Moonlight
by DigimonTamersFan
Summary: What happens when the Titans get involved in a war that's been going on for hundreds of years. And will feelings be reciprocated? Read to find out. Will eventually become BBxRae, they just have to discover their feelings first. There is some RobxSf
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone, DTF here with an exciting new story that involves two of my favorite Teen Titans characters: Beast Boy and Raven. And plus it has an OC that I have created. So sit back, grab some popcorn and turn the background color of the story to black, easier on the eyes.

Oh yeah, almost forgot, Disclaimer: I own nothing of Teen Titans, If I did, I sure as hell wouldn't be here writing stories about it now would I? The only thing I do own is my OC. Now Enjoy!

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_Chapter One_

"Ha Ha, I gotcha now Cy!" An overly excited eighteen-year-old Beast Boy exclaimed. He had just pulled into the lead on the final lap of the racing game that him and Cyborg have been playing for the past five hours. "Didja see that Rae?!"

"Yes, Beast Boy, I saw that." Raven replied in her monotoned voice, sitting comfortably near the edge of the semi-circle couch still wearing her midnight black leotard with her dark blue cloak with the hood down, with surprise surprise, a book. Her eyes glanced up at the huge flat-screen T.V., but the book hid the tiny smile that made its way to her face.

"I'm finally gonna win!" The green shape-shifter furiously tapping the controller buttons, all he needed was just a few more seconds and he would beat the famous Cyborg at a video game.

"You haven't won yet, ya little grass stain!" Cyborg's voice matching the changeling's volume, he pressed a button on the side of the controller and the next thing Beast Boy knew, his ride was nothing but scrap, the front passenger side tire sailed into the air, while the back drivers side rim came off and landed on the bed of the 4x4 truck exposing the braking system completely, the body was a crumpled mess of aluminum, the suspension jutted out of random places, some through the wind shield, along with the mangled steel roll cage, all in all, its racing days were over.

Beast Boy watched in complete horror as his ride stopped just maybe a couple of feet from the finish line. That's not even the worst part, Cyborg actually stopped just as far from the line as Beast Boy, got up off the couch, did a victory dance, and trudged on over the line. "Boo-ya! I still got it!"

The green changeling stared at the screen flashing "Player 1 win, Player 2 lost". His line of sight lowered to the controller in his hands, then a question popped in his head. He looked up at his long time friend and asked, "How'd you do that?!"

The metal man shrugged, placing the controller on the coffee table, next to the T.V. remote, picking that up, he turned the giant T.V. off, then set the remote back down and said, "If you read the instructions, you'd know how I did that." With that said, he walked toward the kitchen to make himself a snack and to check up on how Starfire and Robin's cooking lesson was going.

Beast Boy's face showed that he was in deep thought, obviously trying to remember something. Then his face showed that of confusion. He lifted himself off the couch and headed towards the game cases. "There was instructions?"

Raven having seen all that just happened couldn't seem to get rid of the smile that threatened to turn into a full blown grin. The look on Beast Boy's face was priceless when he saw his truck get blown to Kingdom Come. Having to keep her book covering half her face, she peeked a quick look over at the green teenage boy. She noticed that he wasn't wearing his traditional purple and black Doom Patrol uniform, but just a simple dark purple shirt that well fitted his new physique and a pair of beige shorts that exposed his calf muscles.

Beast Boy, thanks to his animal genes, sensed somebody watching him. He turned around and didn't see anybody watching him. Cyborg, Starfire, and Robin were in the kitchen, more than likely talking about how he got his butt handed to him on a silver platter. All that left was Raven, who had her head in her book. So he shrugged and went back to searching for the game case that had the instructions booklet in it and maybe, just maybe he would beat Cyborg at the game.

Unbeknownst to Beast Boy however, Raven had a blush covering her face, making it look like she had a fever. She was checking the green boy out and almost got caught. What freaked her out the most was that she was checking _him_ out. She felt the couch shift a little, which meant one thing, Beast Boy had sat back down next to her.

"I can't find it. I think Cy hid it or something." He pouted glancing over his shoulder to the metal man scarfing down a very meaty looking sandwich. He realized that Starfire and Robin were missing. He figured since the cooking lesson was over Robin went back to the evidence locker to check inventory and the Tamaranean Princess followed him.

Raven tried her best to fight down the blush that still evident on her face. Beast Boy, turning his head back around, noticed that her face was red. He scooted closer to her and brought a hand up to her forehead.

"Um, what are you doing?" She asked bringing down her book and raising an eyebrow, and mentally thanked Azar that her voice was steady and didn't stutter.

"Your face is all red. I'm seein' if you got a fever." He answered back casually, "Well, you're warm, but I don't think your sick. It must be the heat." Taking his hand away from her forehead, he twisted his upper body back toward the kitchen area, "Hey Cyborg," The tin man put the last of his sandwich in his mouth and swallowed.

"Yeah, BB?"

"Could ya turn down the heat, Raven's face is red." Using his thumb, he pointed towards the empath, whose face had the remnants of the blush from before.

"Yeah, sure," Cyborg brought one of his arms up with the display of the temperature in red digital numbers. He pushed a couple of buttons on the LCD screen, and almost immediately the heat in the air cooled some, bringing relief to the overheated titans. "How's that? I've been meanin' to turn the heat down some."

"Ahh, much better." Beast Boy sighed and stretched on the semi-circle couch with his feet on the coffee table and his hands behind his head.

"Yes, much better." It was true, with her in her leotard and cloak, the heat was getting to her. Now she could concentrate on her book...only she couldn't. She'd glance over to the shape-shifter and then back to her book and she kept reading the same sentence. So she just marked her place and closed the book. Using her powers, she set the book on the table away from Beast Boy's feet.

Raven sighed. _It figures. The one time Beast Boy is quiet and still, he still distracts me._ She looked around the room, Cyborg was gone from the small kitchen, most likely in the garage tuning his "baby", as he calls it. The young seventeen-year-old turned her head toward the common room doors, after a second or two, she turned her head back towards the kitchen and noticed something for the first time since she has been there. _We need a clock in here. _Grabbing her communicator, she flipped it open and looked at the digital clock built in. _10:25 pm._ She flipped it back closed and reattached it to her chain belt. She didn't feel like going to bed, because she wasn't sleepy. She looked around the room again noticing small tid bits here and there. She turned her gaze towards the front window, the moon was out, well half of it was anyway. Then she thought of something that she hasn't done since this morning. _I should meditate. _She closed her eyes and started floating maybe a foot or maybe a foot and a half above the couch. _Azarath Metrion Zinthos__...Azarath Metrion Zinthos_. She chanted her mantra barely above a whisper. She was almost at the point of complete calmness, when her ears picked up a soft snoring sound. Floating back down on the couch, she opened her eyes and saw Beast Boy's mouth slightly ajar. That was a sound she never heard before, usually she was the first to bed and first to get up. She also saw that he was still wearing his gloves that went to his uniform.

_Why is he wearing his gloves with civilian cloths?_ Curiosity getting the better of her, she eased Beast Boy's left hand out from under his head, making sure not to jar him awake. _Oh the irony,_ u_sually, he's the one that bugs me in my sleep. _She got his hand in hers, and saw that his was slightly larger, but it fitted perfectly with her hand. _Even though his hand is larger than mine, it fits perfectly. Its like they're proportional. _She studied his hand for a moment longer before deciding on pulling the glove off. _Now for the reason why I grabbed his hand in the first place. _She was just about to slide his hand out of the glove when the tower alarm went blazing. The T.V. monitor turned into a map showing all of Jump City. Zooming in on the cause. It was Cinderblock.

Beast Boy woke up with a start, using his right hand to wipe his eyes, "Ugh, stupid villains, doing crimes in the middle of the night." He looked around and saw Raven holding his left hand while looking like a deer caught in headlights. "Um, Rae, why are you holding my hand?" It was a legitimate question, when you wake up and find somebody holding your hand, you want to know.

Raven, quickly regaining her composure, let go of his hand and brought her hood up with her powers. "Your hand snaked its way over to me. All I did was stop it." Her voice monotoned and seemingly emotionless. Standing, she made her way toward the computer console and sat in the seat in front of it.

"Oh, sorry." The green boy apologized rubbing the back of his head grinning. _I hate it when she hides her face. At least, she wasn't mad. _It was true that her voice seemed emotionless, but Beast Boy can tell whether she's mad or not. Living with her for the past two years kinda helps.

The common room doors opened up with a hiss, Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg entered post haste.

"Raven, status." Robin said going to leader mode in less than a second.

"It's Cinderblock, he's wrecking the apartment buildings that are still in use. From the looks of it, he already toppled one, thankfully, it was empty, but if we don't get there fast, he will kill innocent lives." Raven stated in her calm voice. Starfire gasped, Cyborg stood there with a grim expression on his face. Beast Boy was already gone.

"Then, we must hurry to save them!" A frantic Starfire exclaimed.

"What's his location?" The boy wonder asked, trying to keep his cool.

"I'll answer that," The Titans turned toward to Cyborg, "He's in the downtown district. If we book it, we'll make it before any serious casualties happen."

"Alright. Titans go!" Robin said his famous line and the Titans filed out of the common room, until Starfire noticed that Beast Boy was missing.

"Where is friend Beast Boy?" Starfire asked looking around the room and coming up empty.

Robin answered her back, "Knowing him, he left when Raven said 'He will kill innocent lives.' That's why he's not here."

"Will he reach the scene of the crime in time?" Starfire asked.

This time Cyborg answered her, "Don't worry Star, BB's animal instincts will guide him to the trouble."

They reached the garage, Cyborg pushed a button near the entrance door making the garage door raise and letting the cold icy wind blow into the garage making everybody cringe from the lack of warmth. Starfire and Robin were wearing light civilian cloths thanks to the warmth of the tower.

"Robin, I wish to be warm again please." Starfire cringed again against the cold bitter wind, rubbing her arms with her hands to create heat from friction. She was wearing a pink long-sleeve T-shirt with semi-fitted sweatpants with sandals. Not the best for dead winter cold in the city.

"Sorry Star, but we can't go back to change. The citizens of those apartment buildings are counting on us. Besides we need to get there before Beast Boy gets hurt." Robin replied back. He wasn't much better off wearing a tank top muscle shirt and workout shorts with athletic shoes, but still wearing his mask to cover his eyes. " He can't defeat him on his own."

"No, but he can put up a fight," Raven said pulling her cloak tighter against her body.

"True, but he can't last long on his own, especially in this kind of weather," The boy wonder stated turning around to face Cyborg and the T-Car, "Cy, is the T-Car ready yet?"

Cyborg popped his head out from under the hood, from just putting back together the air intake system. Cyborg slammed the hood down and called out, "Yeah, she's ready, everybody hop in. That includes you Robin."

The other three ran toward the vehicle, Raven riding shotgun, and Starfire and Robin riding in the back seat. It was a good thing the seats wasn't leather, otherwise they would've frozen a lot more than just their arms and legs. Though it wouldn't really have mattered since the A/C and Heating system work as soon as you turn the key to start the engine.

Cyborg turned on the Defrost and Floor setting to the heater. Instant heat jetted through the vents leading up to the wind shield and the floor vents in the front and back of the car. He also turned on the Rear Defrost to keep the back wind shield from fogging up. Simultaneous sighs of relief could be heard from Robin, Starfire, and Raven.

Cyborg raised an eyebrow, "Sometimes I'm glad I'm half robot."

Robin gave him a look, but then shook his head, "Cy, do you have an ETA?"

"If I switch the T-Car into Hover-mode so the ice and snow doesn't affect traction, ten, fifteen minutes tops." Cyborg finished looking up into the rear view mirror and giving a thumbs up and a grin.

"Good," Robin replied with smile, but it quickly turned to a frown and murmured, "I just hope Beast Boy can last that long."

Raven may not have heard him, but the waves of emotion was to strong to ignore. She felt butterflies in her stomach. She tried meditating to quell the feeling, but it remained there. _What's this feeling? It won't go away either. _She was thinking along those lines deep in thought that Cyborg startled her out of her meditation by placing a mechanical hand on her shoulder.

"You OK Raven?" The metal giant asked in a hushed whisper.

The young empath looked up at him then back toward Robin and Starfire, who was talking battle strategy, with a hand on her chest to slow down her heart rate. "I-I'm fine." She answered back in the same hushed whisper. _No, I stuttered._

"From the way you just stuttered, you're not OK. C'mon tell big brother Cy what's the matter."

"I'm...I'm worried about Beast Boy." Raven looked out the window to avoid Cyborg's gaze and to hide the tiny blush that made itself known.

Cyborg couldn't help but smile. He has watched the young half-demon open up more to our favorite changeling over the past couple of years. Placing a metal hand back on her shoulder he said, "Don't worry, he's always pulled through. Besides, by the time we get there, he'll be needin' some healing, stupid grass stain doesn't think twice about his own safety."

Raven smiled her trademark small smile, and replied, "Which is why he's in the infirmary more than any one of us."

Cyborg smiled back. Then the speakers in the T-Car gave the new ETA "**Estimated Time of Arrival is...seven minutes."**

"Alright, hang on y'all, this might get a little hairy!" The metal man shouted as he stepped on the gas making everybody be forced back into their seat until they arrive at their destination.

**Meanwhile...**

Beast Boy finally arrived at the Apartment Complex, just a few minutes after him hearing Raven say that innocent people will be killed. Transforming back to his human form from a falcon, landing gracefully on his feet. He observed his surroundings for anything out of the ordinary, plus using his acute sense of hearing, he could hear a pin drop in a semi-crowded room. He looked and listened, gaining his bearings for the fight to come. He saw the first apartment building to fall, but no Cinderblock. You would think something like that would make a lot more noise around a place like this. All the other apartment buildings were fine except for the one. It didn't make any sense. Beast Boy was about to doubt the functionality of the Tower Alarm System, until he heard glass break behind him. Quickly morphing into a Ankylosaurus just in time to receive a winding blow by Cinderblock's right hook. But thanks to the extinct dinosaur's tremendous weight and the added benefit of thick skin and bony plates, it felt more like a mosquito bite.

Cinderblock recoiled holding his fist back stepping five or so feet, grunting in pain. He lowered his gaze to a piece of rebar with some concrete still on one end. Picking up his new toy with a evil grin on his face, Cinderblock charged, rearing back the piece of rebar in his hands, forward towards Beast Boy, who was still an Ankylosaurus, but his tail was facing him. Cinderblock bringing down his weapon with enough force to cut a vehicle in half, chuckled at his victory. Beast Boy seeing this, braced his half-ton legs and whipped his clubbed tail right into the piece of rebar, effectively knocking it out of Cinderblock's concrete hands. The blockhead was momentarily stunned, giving enough time for Beast Boy to swing his tail around again and tripping the humanoid. Cinderblock landed with a heavy thud and didn't stir.

Beast Boy morphing back into his human form, examined the big brute. _He looks unconscious. _He stepped closer to the enemy, keeping his guard up just in case he tried anything funny. He let his guard down when he realized that Cinderblock was out cold. Beast Boy turned around letting his back face his opponent and let out a sigh. It was then that he realized something...IT WAS FREAKING COLD. His hands instantly went to his arms trying to make heat. _Oh man, I forgot how cold it was out here. _His body, acting on its own, started shivering. His teeth started chattering and just when he was about to morph to a creature with a lot of fur, he was grabbed by the neck with impressive force.

_Dude, _not _cool, playing possum on me._ Beast Boy's hands reflexively go to his neck to try and pry lose the hold Cinderblock had on him. The humanoid villain saw this and tightened his grip on Beast Boy's neck. _Crap, my arms are losing their feeling to them. _The changeling's body wasn't getting enough oxygen, pretty soon his whole body felt limp. Cinderblock didn't want him to die just yet, he brought his telephone pole sized arm back and threw Beast Boy much like a football. The semi-conscious boy sailed through the cold air fifty or so feet, and landed in the ruble of the destroyed apartment building. Scratches made themselves apparent over his body. Beast Boy was still a little dazed from oxygen deprivation. His line of sight saw Cinderblock coming his way, more than likely going to finish him off. He tried to stand, only to receive excruciating pain from his right shin. A slab of concrete was laying on top of it. He tried moving it, but only got it to budge an inch or two, and then it would fall back in place and send more pain through his nerve endings.

Cinderblock was half-way there and Beast Boy still couldn't lift the concrete slab off of himself. _Crap, now what do I do? _His gaze returned to the grey version of the Hulk, who was twenty feet away from his location. He searched around himself and a few good size rocks. Picking them up, he chucked them toward his foe. Cinderblock didn't even try to stop them from hitting him. They only bounced off of him. Beast Boy was losing options on how to get out of this alive, until he saw something green and bright head for Cinderblock's head. It hit with dead-on accuracy. There's only one person who could do that...

"About time you get here!" Beast Boy shouted with a grin on his face. Robin and Cyborg arriving at the scene. Starfire overhead still unleashing starbolts at Cinderblock driving him away from her injured friend.

"Yeah and not a moment to soon!" Cyborg replied back focusing his sonic cannon and firing a blue blast of energy to accompany Starfire's starbolts.

Robin making his way over to Beast Boy, just as a black raven appeared out of the ground next to the green boy reviling the young empath.

"Hey Rae," The shape-shifter greeted with a smile, "Hey Rob. What's up?"

"Other than me forgetting my utility belt, everything's fine." The raven haired leader said pointing to his belt free waist.

Raven observed her surroundings and found that Beast Boy was still alive. That nervous feeling from before is gone, but only to be replaced by anger.

"Don't you 'Hey Rae' me." She responded with a glare, bringing down her hood.

Beast Boy was slightly confused by this. He doesn't remember doing anything to upset Raven. It must have been the name. Though she hasn't minded being called that for awhile now. "Um, hey Raven?"

Robin, ignoring them for now, was trying to move the concrete slab on Beast Boy's lower leg. Grunting in frustration, he gave up on moving it himself, "Raven, could you move this?"

Raven turned head toward the Titans leader, her glare gone for now. "Yes." Was all she said. Summoning her power to her hands, she encased the slab with dark energy, moving her hand without the slightless hint of trying. Beast Boy hissing from the weight loss on his leg. "Robin," The boy wonder turned his attention to the half-demon, "Go help the others. I know you can still help even without your utility belt."

Robin merely nodded and started running towards Cyborg and Starfire to help take down Cinderblock.

Now that Robin was gone, Raven could heal Beast Boy and talk to him alone. She got down on her knees, her hands glowing white with healing magic. Her glare returning upon looking at Beast Boy. "Do you know why I'm mad at you?" She said healing the scratches on his body.

"Um, is it because I called you Rae?" Beast Boy said rubbing the back of his head. He honestly didn't know why she was angry, let alone just at him.

Her eyes met his, "Hardly." She turned her sight to Beast Boy's nearly crushed leg. "I'm mad because you came here with no backup. What do you think would've happened if me and the others didn't make it in time?" She finished healing his broken shin bone and was now standing facing him on the cold ground with her arms crossed. Her glare still present.

Standing up, his face took on a serious and thoughtful expression, "Probably killed," Her glare intensified, "But," Her glare didn't phase him in the slightest, "You did come and that's all that matters. Besides, nobody deserves do die like that." He answered simply dusting himself off some.

Raven's glare lessened, "Just don't do it again." For some reason, he was the only one who could get her angry, but just as quick, make her seem at peace. She turned around and saw Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg, who were maybe a hundred feet or so from them, were having a tough time taking down Cinderblock by themselves. Raven glanced over her shoulder, "Stay here, I healed the fracture, but the muscle tendons and ligaments will be sore. You won't be able to use them without some pain. So stay here." Raven said bringing her hood back up over her head, and began flying over to the battle to help her other friends.

"You got it Raven!" Beast Boy shouted back at her, "I need some R and R anyway." Limping over to some knee high ruble, he decided to sit and for once do what Raven told him to do.

Little did they suspect, a lone figure, around six feet in height having a medium build with deep blue eyes and dark brown hair that covered most of his forehead. He was wearing an unbuttoned muscle shirt that showed off his toned chest with a picture of a female wolf with her pups near her in the background and the male wolf in the foreground showing his fangs on the back of the shirt. He also wore a heart-shaped locket around his neck and denim shorts that came down to his knees. He carried on his back a three foot Katana hanging with blade edge facing upward so he could draw his sword with more ease. The strap going from the Kurikata(Knob), over his right shoulder, across his chest, around his lower left side and back up around his back to connect back to the Kurikata. The Sheath or Scabbard was black in color with silver tips at the Kojiri(end-cap) and the Koigichi(Scabbard mouth). The blade itself was a shining silver color. The Tsuba(guard) and Habaki(blade collar) were also silver in color. The Tsuka(handle or hilt) was wrapped in traditional black Tsukaito cloth. The Menuki(Ornament) was a small sculpture of a wolf howling.[1] And lieing on the ground was a shoulder strap travelers backpack. He was waiting and watching to see if he was needed to intervene in this fight.

Raven arrived at the battle field, and upon her arrival, she observed how her teammates were fairing. Robin, using a piece of rebar lieing on the ground, was swinging it like his trusty metal bo staff, landing hits on Cinderblock's body in different places, though there wasn't any marks to indicate this. Starfire was flying overhead firing her starbolts at him, scorching the places that her starbolts did connect with. Cyborg, a ways back from the action, was firing his sonic cannon, taking careful aim so as to not hit his fellow teammates.

Raven landed beside Cyborg to get an update on the situation. "What's going on?"

Cyborg halted his firing, his sonic cannon transforming back into his hand. "Well, so far we were waiting on you to get here so you can tie him up. How's BB doing?" Cyborg asked glancing over his metal shoulder seeing his long time best friend watching everything unfold, and occasionally shiver due to the cold.

"I healed his cuts and scrapes and his fractured shin. Other than that, he's fine." She answered back.

The metal man grinned, "See? Worried over nothing."

Raven gave her small smile in return, "Yes, I suppose I was worried over nothing," Her smile faded being replaced by her serious expression, "So, how are we doing this?"

Cyborg's expression turned serious also, "OK, here's the game plan. Me, Robin, and Star will distract him while you phase behind him and encase him with your powers than me and Star will tie him up with the rebar lieing around here. Sound good?"

Raven contemplated this. "Yes, it should work." She finally answered.

Cyborg, giving her a thumbs up, charged forward to the other two, "Alright y'all, time to put the plan into action!" He called out, changing his hand back into his sonic cannon, stopping in front of Cinderblock and fired off a couple of shots hitting the concrete humanoid in the chest doing little damage, after all, he was just being a distraction. And a distraction he was, Cinderblock, disregarding the other titans, turned his attention toward the robotic man.

Cinderblock grunted and started running toward Cyborg, his arm brought back to deliver a devastating punch to whoever was unlucky enough to the on the receiving end of it. Cyborg, though he may not look it he can be fast on his feet when need be, quickly dodging the frontal assault by side-stepping out of the way, leading Cinderblock's punch to hit the snow covered ground. The punch felt like a miniature earthquake knocking everybody down on their backsides, except for Starfire and Raven. Cinderblock's punch made the erupt into tiny spikes stick out at the point of connection. It also made cracks appear along the surface of the ground and along the sides of the apartment buildings. Cinderblock rose to his full height, and seeing his prey still on the ground, an evil grin appearing on his face. He started making his way over to the robotic teen. Cinderblock was right on him until he was bombarded by starbolts. Thus angering him, he turned his sights on the one flying above them.

The concrete giant spotted a concrete slab with some of the rebar still inside it. Picking it up, he chucked to our Tamaranean Princess in hopes of hitting her. Starfire, keeping her sight on her opponent, saw the object rushing towards her. Bracing herself, it slammed into her, but she merely caught it, thanks to her surprising strength. Eyes glowing green with power, she threw it back at her assaulter. Cinderblock's smile faded when he saw what he threw at her come back to him. He couldn't evade thanks to his size, so he did the only thing he could do: shield his head with his arms. The collision between the two resulted in the slab to break into smaller pieces, Cinderblock, however, stood in one piece. After all, he was made to withstand more than that.

The slab breaking caused dust to fly through the air, creating a temporary blind against the humanoid. Robin seeing his chance, gripped the rebar in his hands tighter, charged toward Cinderblock. But the giant wasn't as blind as one would think. Seeing Robin coming with his rebar staff reared back, Cinderblock brought his arms down, and waited. It was true that he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but when it came to battle, he was the sharpest. Robin believing he has the upper hand brought his rebar staff down, only for it to be caught by Cinderblock's hand. Robin tried to wriggle it free, but it was useless. So he let go of his weapon. Placing the weapon in both his hands, Cinderblock bent it in half and kicked the boy wonder twenty feet away with him landing on his back rolling till he finally stopped. Gasping for the air that was knocked out of him.

Starfire seeing this landed beside Robin, "Robin, are you hurt?" She asked, her voice slightly breaking.

Cinderblock making his way over to the two, the bent piece of rebar still in his hands. Cyborg switching his hand to the arm cannon firing a few shots into his side, hoping to get his attention, but didn't.

"I'm...fine...go." Robin replied back, still gasping for the needed oxygen. Starfire nodded and stood in front of him. Bringing her fists parallel to the ground, green light surrounding them, she released a few starbolts that were aimed at Cinderblock's chest, only to leave a few burn marks. She tried again in a desperate attempt to keep Robin safe, only for it to end with the same outcome.

Sitting in sidelines, Beast Boy couldn't take it anymore. His friends were in trouble and he was sitting here doing nothing. That was when the changeling morphed into a cheetah and started running to his friends aid, only to stop from pain. He examined his back right leg, yep Raven was right, his muscles were too sore to use, but...his friends were in danger. Shoving the pain to the back of his mind, he pushed forward, in hopes of reaching his friends.

Cyborg fired off more pot shots at Cinderblock, only to be ignored. Cinderblock was twelve feet away from the starbolt firing princess and the out of breath boy wonder. He figured now would be as good a time as any. "Raven! Now!" He shouted over the chaos.

Phasing ten feet behind him, Raven appeared with her arms crossed into an X, chanting her mantra to increase her powers potency, "Azarath Metrion Zinth-" But was cut off as the piece of bent rebar came colliding her chest making her fall on her back five more feet away from her attacker clutching her bruised bosom. Cinderblock was now making his way toward the downed girl, it seems he wants to go after a defenseless titan than one active and shooting at him. Starfire seeing this powered up her eyes and unleashed two green lasers hitting Cinderblock square in the back. He didn't even stop let alone turn around. Robin, finally getting his breath back, searched the ground around himself. He found a couple of pieces of concrete lieing beside him. Picking them up, he lobbed them with all his strength at Cinderblock's head, making contact, but like with Starfire, it was useless.

Cyborg following the actions of his teammates, powering up his sonic cannon to full charging capacity, he didn't care about the plan anymore, one of his friends was about to be hurt, he was going to take out Cinderblock before he got the chance. Bracing his legs for what was about to come, he would be using half of his energy cell, but again he didn't care, "Hey blockhead! I gotcha kicks right here!" Hearing the charging sound reach its peak, he fired his sonic cannon at full capacity. Not a moment to soon either, Cinderblock was maybe four feet away from Raven. The sonic beam was a foot in diameter easily covering the twenty feet distance between him and Cinderblock. The blockhead actually turned his gaze toward the sound and saw the blue beam just in time to shield his head with his arms exposing his torso area, but instinctively braced his legs. The beam collided into his side area of his torso, producing a small dust cloud around his body. The Titans waited for the dust to clear, their hearts beating in their ears.

Raven seeing her chance, tried to stand up only to fall a couple of feet away from her previous position. Her bearings were still off, thanks to the rebar hitting her with nearly the force of a small car. Bringing her hand to her chest, she tried healing any abnormalities inside her.

When the dust cleared, to the Titans horror, Cinderblock still stood, the snow was a perfect circle around him because of the force of impact from Cyborg's cannon. Lowering his arms to his side, the concrete being gave a smirk, indicating that he didn't feel any of the damage dealt to himself. Continuing from where he left off before he was interrupted, he returned to a steady pace, even with half his side missing. The Titans resumed their efforts in trying to stop Cinderblock from doing what he did to Beast Boy to Raven.

Speaking of Beast Boy, He stopped when he saw the dust cloud surround Cinderblock. He was forty feet from their position, and he noticed Raven make her way away from him, but fell not to far from where he was standing. He saw her bring her hand to her chest area, the white light emanating from it meant she was healing herself. Beast Boy felt his stomach drop when he saw Cinderblock continued walking toward her. His friends attempts at stopping him were nothing less than futile. Raven healed what she could, from what he could tell, but she still looked like she was in pain. Her hood was knocked down from being hit by the piece of rebar Cinderblock threw at her. She brought her sight up from the ground and looked at Beast Boy. When she did, the changeling felt his heart drop. There on her face was fear, genuine fear. Raven never showed fear, not even during the toughest of times.

Something in Beast Boy snapped. His anger was getting the better of him and he knew it, but he didn't care. Raven was _scared_. Nobody had the right to make her feel fear, she's been through enough as it is. Beast Boy could feel his body morphing, shifting into his next most powerful creature, other than the Beast. He could feel the cloths he was wearing rip and shred because of his rapidly increasing body mass. His head morphed into a giant five foot long, two feet wide skull with twelve inch long teeth that had chisel-like tips on each one, his neck increased in size, almost as thick as the skull, but was short as to compensate for the weight of the head. His body increased in size and density and was wider than the width of the skull. Beast Boy's legs became more muscular and were long and slender compared to the body the legs belonged to. His five toed feet morphed into a thirty-three inch long and twenty-eight inch wide three toed foot with a dewclaw on the tiny, vestigial fourth toe, each claw measuring a good two and a half inches. Plus with this transformation, a twenty foot long tail came with this certain extinct creature. The arms of this creature maybe nothing more than three feet in length, but could well hold up to five-hundred pounds easily.

Beast Boy's morphing was complete. Standing twenty feet tall up to his head, the nostrils flaring in and out to give oxygen to this seven ton saurian. The three inch diameter eyes narrowed in on the one who caused this. Cinderblock back-stepped a couple of paces away from the young woman laying on the ground, with a frightened expression on its face. The other Titans have stopped their relentless onslaught in keeping Cinderblock from approaching the half-demon on the ground, each with an expression of worry and fear. Raven also had a faint expression of worry etched onto her face. With her being an empath, she sensed great fear in the concrete villain behind her, but she also sensed worry and fear coming from her three stunned teammates. But those feelings were squashed with the emotion pulsing out of the green T. Rex in front of her. _Anger_. _Pure Raw Anger_. Raven knew it took a lot to set Beast Boy off, with him being the main victim of her sarcastic remarks and the debates about which is 'Meat and not Meat' between him and Cyborg, but he knows the robotic man doesn't mean any of it and the same goes for her sarcastic remarks.

Raven also knows he uses that form to scare any third rate criminal they happen to come by into giving up without a fight, and he uses the body mass to take most of the hits aimed toward the group. Which is why he's in the infirmary more often than the others. But, from the way his eyes looked and the raw emotion surging to her, he's not meaning to scare Cinderblock to submission, or take a few hits for the team, he has murderous intentions.

Raven thinking fast, summoned her powers, her right hand glowing black with magic, and gathered each of her friends in a orb of energy and placed them behind a formidable pile of ruble away from the ancient beast. "Stay there, I'm going to try to calm him down before he does something he'll regret."

Robin nodded, "OK, just, be careful."

Starfire tenderly grabbed and hugged Robin's left arm, "Will she be victorious?"

The boy wonder merely smiled, "Yes, I know she will be." Turning to his right, his smile fading, he whispered to his metal friend, "Cyborg," The robotic teen turned his gaze toward his leader, "Set your sonic cannon on low, just in case Raven can't calm Beast Boy down."

Bringing his right forearm up, he touched a button on the LCD screen, then he rotated a flat circle counter-clockwise until it flashed the words: **Damage Set To Minimal**. "OK, its done, but why did you want me to? You aren't having doubts about Raven are you?" The metal man whispered back.

Robin shook his head a little, "No I have complete faith in her. Its just in case things take a wrong turn." He replied back before focusing back on the battlefield. Cyborg doing the same.

The T. Rex took in a breath, the nostrils expanded then they closed then they expanded again. Showing the bottom row of his twelve inch chisel tipped teeth, his twenty foot tail swinging back and forth in a slow rhythmic pattern, he took in one final breath, opening his four foot long mouth exposing the conical shaped teeth in the back regions of his mouth, he let out the breath he drew in by letting out a thunderous battle cry roar that only the Tyrant Lizard King can let out. Nearly breaking the windows from the accompanying apartment buildings, and the ear drums of his fellow friends and teammates.

The T. Rex's tail stopped swaying and aligned with the body of the extinct carnivore. The T. Rex lunged forward, the numbing cold and severe pain in his right shin forgotten, taking fifteen foot single strides with each step. Cinderblock taking more steps back still having a terrified look etched on his face. Raven floated out of the way, not wanting to be stomped by the seven ton saurian, yelling, "Beast Boy! Stop!" Cinderblock's attempts at moving away was just postponing the inevitable. Opening its four foot maw, Beast Boy clamped down on Cinderblock's upper body, digging his twelve inch teeth five inches into Cinderblock's front and back, but missing his head entirely. He then proceeded to lift his prey completely off the ground. Cinderblock, not going down without a fight, started punching the sides of the green lizard's head, hoping to deal some damage, but only angering it more. Swinging its massive five foot long skull side to side, trying to rip the concrete humanoid to shreds, but noticing no limbs were flying in any direction, the Tyrant Lizard King stopped swinging his head and decided to throw Cinderblock into a nearby wall one-hundred and twenty feet away from them. Cinderblock crashed into the wall, his lower body sticking out with his upper body inside the wall. The king of the dinosaurs made his way over, trudging along in the snow making two and half foot long and two foot wide footprints in it. Its breathing was erratic, having done rigorous activity and the cold temperatures didn't help matters either.

Raven, flying up the beast's head, looked into the softball sized eye, "Beast Boy! Beast Boy, stop!" The creature paid no heed to Raven's pleading. His eyes were still locked onto his target. The raw anger still coming off of him in waves, Raven had to do something fast, in order to save Cinderblock's life. It was true they sometimes did the police force's job, but they didn't kill any of the criminals, they left that task to the higher powers. _Maybe if I touch him, it will knock him back to his senses._ She did just that. Flying closer to his head, she placed her right hand on the left side of his face, right beside the eye, but just as soon as she touched him, she jerked her hand away. _He's cold to the touch. If he doesn't stop and transform back into his human form...he'll die from hypothermia._

"Beast Boy! Beast Boy! Change back to your human form!" Raven tried talking to him again begging him to stop, but it was like talking to a brick wall, a mobile brick wall. It was to late, the green saurian arrived at the impact site and was waiting for his chew toy to stand up. Raven keeping her distance away from the fight was trying to figure out a way to get Beast Boy back to his senses. Cinderblock dragged himself out of the ten foot wide hole, rubbing his head to make the pain go away. He opened his eyes to something muscular standing in his way blocking his field of vision. It was then he remembered how he came to be there in the first place. His face contorted from one of pain into one of fear. The T. Rex didn't have the strength left to lift him up and throw him a second time, so he settled to tail swipe Cinderblock instead. Turning his massive frame to the right, the one ton twenty foot long tail connected sending Cinderblock flying twenty-five feet away landing onto the ground face down in an unconscious heap.

Continuing turning to the right, the T. Rex aligned himself with his prey. The saurian started to walk, but stumbled to the right as if he was dizzy from making the quick three-hundred and sixty degree attack. After regaining his balance, he trudged his way to the mangled villain on the ground, but stopped half-way there. Its breathing has become more erratic, the huge shoulders of this creature were slumped, as if he was tired. The jaw was slightly ajar, not having enough energy to keep it closed. The tail wasn't swaying, the end of it was touching the ground creating a drag trail from where he was previously. The three foot long two fingered arms were hanging limply in front of his massive chest. Its muscular legs trembling under its own weight

Raven seeing her chance, she floated up to the right side of the ancient predator's head. Placing her right hand back onto the side of his face near the eye, but jerking it right back. _He's colder now than he was the last time I touched him._ Placing her back where it was before and ignoring the stinging feeling it gave her, she tried once more to help her long time friend. "Beast Boy, Beast Boy! You have to stop!" She begged once again, "Your killing yourself." She whispered the last part. The emotion emanating from the bipedal dinosaur was coming out as strong as before, the only thing that saved Cinderblock's life was the freezing cold temperatures. The softball sized eyes were still trained on the enemy lieing on the ground, the green dino wanting to trample it to death.

The empath was racking her brain for a solution to this situation. _Maybe if I use his real name, he'll snap out of it._ "Gar! Garfield!" She called out, praying to Azar that this would work and it seemed to, the right eyeball reluctantly left its target and focused on her. She could see the pupil of the eyeball expand, signifying he had regained some coherent thought. "Please stop Gar, please, just stop," She said in a whisper laying her head next to the eye socket on the cold skin of the ancient dinosaur, "I'm OK, everybody is OK. You can stop." Slightly leaning his head into her touch, it gave a sound much like that of a whimper. Raven raised her head off of his, her right hand still touching his freezing skin, her left hand grabbing her cloak in front of her chest and squeezing.

The T. Rex's eyes became half-lidded. Its breathing was deathly slow compared to before. Then Raven felt the stinging sensation leave her hand, the mighty predator of the past was falling over. Raven could do nothing but watch. The other Titans watched as the great beast fell over sending shock waves through the ground effectively knocking all three on their backs and sending snow that was on the ground flying through the air for the wind to carry and the rest to fall on the unconscious body of Cinderblock. Out of energy to sustain the transformation, the T. Rex morphed back into Beast Boy. His cloths were remnants of what they once were. His purple shirt was basically a vest now, his shorts were almost none existent. The only thing that was in one piece was his Doom Patrol gloves on his hands.

Raven lowered herself down next to the green boy, Robin and the others were making their way over to them. Using the same hand, she touched his arm. It was as cold as before, and she noticed his skin was a pale green color instead of the regular green and he wasn't moving, not even shivering.

Robin showed up beside her, "Raven, is he alright?" Starfire, sitting on the other side of Beast Boy looking up at Robin, asked her own version of the question, "I wish to know he will be alright now, please."

The boy wonder turned his head toward Cyborg, "How is he? What's wrong with him?"

The mechanical teen shook his head, "From what I can tell, he has a severe case of hypothermia. The freezing temperatures and him morphing into a cold-blooded animal didn't help him any," He got down on one knee, bringing an arm up and scanning the green changeling. After a couple of seconds, numbers and beeping lines showed on his arm, "His body temp is in the mid eighties and dropping and his heart rate and breathing are slow. He needs to be back at the tower ASAP." He responded back with urgency in his voice.

Starfire looked confused by this, "Friends, what is this 'hypothermia' you speak of."

Raven, bringing her right hand back to her lap, answered her confused friend, "It's a condition when the internal body temperature of a person goes way below normal. It's been reported in some cases that the person who was hypothermic dies from it." _Beast Boy...you...you...I can't even find the right words to describe you right now._

Starfire gave a small gasp, "We must help him."

Robin, sensing his girlfriends distress, changed positions so that he was beside her, "Don't worry Star, he's going to be alright." Starfire accepting the answer, wrapped her arms around her boyfriend and buried her face into his chest. "Raven," The young woman turned her gaze toward the Titans leader, "Can you teleport him back to the tower and get his body temperature back up?"

Raven nodded, "Yes." Summoning her power, a black raven enveloped her and Beast Boy and they were gone.

Robin turning his attention toward Cinderblock, motioned for the others to return to the T-Car. "Come on, let's go warm up in the T-Car. Cyborg getting into the driver's seat and Robin and Starfire getting into the back with the Tamaranean Princess still hugging Robin. Starting the engine, the heater spewed out warm air against the near frozen Titans. "Cyborg, call the police and tell them we got Cinderblock. Though I'm not sure how I'm going to explain what happened back there."

The five-foot ten inch figure picked up his travelers backpack and placed the shoulder strap on his left shoulder so it fell onto his right hip. He didn't need to intervene, the Titans handled their own. After all this is their city, but he will have to make himself known to them because he is just a visitor. A visitor that's been there for the past two years.

* * *

[1] If you don't know what I'm talking about here, just go to Google and search "Katana sword parts" or something like that.

P.S. It'll motivate me to write Chapter two a lot faster if I get a lot of reviews. Thank You for Reading.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello again from your good friend DTF, I got another semi-exciting chapter for ya to read. I was as giddy as a school girl because of the reviews I got. Oh and after you read this chapter, I want you, the reader, to answer some questions at the end of the chapter.

Disclaimer: Same as before.

Now Enjoy!

_Chapter Two_

Phasing into existence, the black raven that enveloped the young empath and the pale green changeling disappeared, leaving them the way they was when they left the other Titans. Beast Boy still lieing on the ground unconscious with Raven sitting by his side. The half-demon turned her head from left to right to get her bearings in order. The hallway lights were set to dim, making it a little difficult to see with the limited lighting. Standing, she spotted something akin to a medicine cabinet ten feet from their position on the right wall. Making her way to it, keeping her right hand on the wall for support, she reached out with her left hand, and using the sense of touch, she felt around the top, then the left side, then bringing her hand across the front, she placed it on the right side and felt nothing but sleek metal.

She was about to place her hand on the bottom of the control panel, when she heard a groan. Whipping her head to the right, while squinting her eyes a little bit, she made out a figure with its back leaning against the wall with its right hand on its head. Continuing from where she left off, she placed her left hand on the bottom of the panel. She found a button, pressing it, the control panel came to life with a slight humming sound. Blinking her eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness, she examined the panel in front of her. The majority of screen showed the Tower, but in 2D. Gauges off to the left of the 2D Tower showed power input, power output, heating system, cooling system, and various other functions that occur in the Tower. On the right of the it, a color index ranging from coldest(blue) to hottest(red). Different rooms of the Tower had various colors occupying each of them.

But, that wasn't what she was looking for. _Where is it?_ Raven's eyes skimmed over the interface, looking for a particular symbol. Her eyes lowered to the bottom right of the screen, and finally finding the symbol that would help with the light problem. Bringing up a finger, she touched the symbol, which looked like a light bulb with five short lines drawn over the bulb to make it look like it was lit. The screen unpixelated out of focus and became blank, then came back into focus with five groups appearing in its place. _Let's see. Roof, no. Basement, no. Bedrooms, no. Garage, no. Ah there it is, Hallways. _Bringing up the same finger, she pushed the last choice on the screen. Again, the screen unpixelated out of focus and became blank, then back into focus with five more subgroups. _Fifth floor, no. Fourth floor, no. Third floor, no. Second floor, no. Finally, first floor._

Bringing up her finger again, she touched the last choice of the subgroups. And again, the screen unpixelated out of focus and becoming blank, then back into focus, but instead of more groups or subgroups, there was a virtual lever with the lever setting near the bottom with the words "Dim" beside it. Bringing up the same finger again, she placed it on the lever, and moved it up. The more she pushed the lever up, the brighter the lights in the Tower shone. She set the lever half-way, so the lights wouldn't be too bright or too dark to see. Smiling at her small accomplishment, she turned her head and saw Beast Boy. He wasn't standing up anymore. He was sitting up against the wall with his right hand still on his head and his left arm hanging limply by his side with his eyes closed. His legs sticking straight out in front of him. And some of the color returned to his skin.

Walking at a fast pace, she crossed the ten foot span between them in no time. "Beast Boy, can you hear me? Are you alright?" She asked squatting down next to him, her voice having some emotion in it. She placed her left hand on his right arm, imagine her surprise when she expected it to be as cold or near as cold as when they were outside, but he was as warm as if he didn't even go in the cold. Retrieving her hand, and immediately missing the warmth, she placed it on her face. She jerked her hand away, her hand was still freezing cold. _I'll ask him later about this._

Beast Boy opened his eyes and moved his hand from his aching head. He did the first thing that came to his mind: that's checking his surroundings. He turned his head to the left and noticed the lighting was brighter than before, and he felt warmth around himself instead of cold. Looking straight ahead of him, he saw the famous words "INFIRMARY" labeled on the door in front of him so that would mean he's in the Tower. Continuing the motion, he glanced to his right to see non-other then Raven gazing at her hand with a distant look in her eyes. He then remembered hearing something, it sounded like 'Beast Boy, can you hear me? Are you alright?' It wasn't said in her normal monotoned voice, it had something else etched in with it. _I'll think about this later. Right now my head is killing me, and Raven wants to know if I'm alright._

"Hey Rae." He said quietly looking up at the young beauty on his right. His throat felt sore, like he'd been yelling. He waited for a response from Raven, but she just kept staring at her hand. His eyes went from her face to her hand. He was curious as to why she would be staring at her hand for so long. So acting on impulse, he grabbed her hand at a casual pace.

That simple action knocked Raven out of her daze, moving her eye sight from where her hand used to be, she gazed down where her hand was at now. "Um, what are you doing Beast Boy?" She saw her green friend examining her hand. Beast Boy was looking at her palm, running his fingers over it, then ,turning her hand over, he looked at the back and ran his fingers over it too. Even though he was wearing his Doom Patrol gloves, Raven could still feel the warmth from his hands. It was then that she felt warmth on both her hands. Looking down she saw that Beast Boy had both her hands and was examining them intensely. He did the same thing to her left hand as the right. Then he put them side by side with the palms up, then with the palms down. Then with a stumped expression on his face, he lowered his hands with hers in them to his lap.

"I was trying to see why you were staring at your hand." He responded with some volume back into his voice looking at his hands. Turning his line of sight to the violet haired girl he continued, "The only thing I could find was that your hands are cold."

Raven gave a sigh, "Well that's to be expected, I was out in the cold for twenty or so minutes." Gently taking back her hands, and again immediately missing the warmth that they had, she stood, her dark blue cloak completely covering her petite five-foot five inch frame. Her hands unknowingly going to her arms to try and create some heat. "Can you stand?" Her voice back to normal. Beast Boy nodded. Bringing his feet closer to his body, his knees bending up, he used his arms to brace against the wall and pushed up, standing to his full five-foot ten inch height. Still keeping his right arm on the wall to keep his balance. It was then that Raven noticed something, "When did you get taller than me?"

Looking at the ceiling in thought, "Um, I think last year," He brought his left hand up and rubbed the back of his head, "Or something like that, I don't really remember." He said with a smile.

Raven lowered her gaze, "Why didn't I notice sooner?" She asked in a whisper.

Beast Boy's acute sense of hearing heard this, "Probably because you were always sitting down and I was bent over talking to you or sitting next to you." He said in a matched whisper.

Raven's gaze jumped up to meet Beast Boy's. _I forgot about his excellent hearing._ _I should've said that in my head, but it wouldn't of mattered anyway. Beast Boy can basicly read my mind sometimes. Well, now that he's standing, I can take him inside the Infirmary._ "Can you walk?"

Beast Boy gave a chuckle, "I can try." Retrieving his arm from the wall, he took the first step with his left foot then his right, making it across the ten foot wide hallway to the Infirmary door, it opening with a hiss, keeping his balance so Raven wouldn't of had to help him. She looked tired herself and with her tiny frame, she wouldn't have the strength to carry him. Thanks to Robin's training regimen, he wasn't the scrawny little boy anymore. His body was muscular, but the muscles were lean not bulky. He was sporting a ripped six-pack, and he could transform into any creature in a second or less.

Raven, still on the other side of the hallway, watched as he made his way over to the door. Her empath powers were telling her that he was worried about her helping him. She started towards the door, pulling up beside Beast Boy, who was leaning against the door frame, catching his breath. "You know, I could of helped you." She said with her arms crossed, her cloak pulled apart by the action.

Catching his breath, he replied, "You could've, but you look spent yourself. And besides, if you did," He gave another chuckle, "It would be like me trying to hold up Cyborg."

Sighing in defeat she said, "I suppose you're right." Then a tiny smile appeared on her lips, "For once." Beast Boy gave a grin and continued on his way inside. The Infirmary was nothing special to the changeling. It had two twin sized beds on the opposite wall of the door with fifteen feet of walking distance between them. On the adjacent walls were cabinets full of medical supplies: syringes, gloves, medicine, etc. And underneath the cabinets was a counter with microscopes, medical centrifuges, and a AED defibrillator. On both sides of the beds were medical equipment: blood pressure monitors, EKG machines, oxygen concentrators, etc. The walls were white along with the floor and the bed sheets. Not to mention there were a couple of chairs.

"Y'know," The green boy said still leaning against the left side of the doorway frame, his vision exploring the room, "I'm gonna paint this room a differently color. A color that's easy on the eyes." He finished tiredly.

Raven, following the young man's eye sight, answered back, "Like what, green." She wouldn't really mind the color. In fact, it's her second favorite color.

The eighteen-year-old turned his gaze to the young woman on his right, "I was thinking more of a dark blue color." He responded back with a tired smile on his face making his way over to the left bed.

The empath followed him over to his destination with her tiny smile, "That would be nice."

Beast Boy lied down on it, and he brought the white sterile sheets up to his waist and lied his head on the sterile pillow with his right hand behind his head and his left lieing at his side with his eyes closed. Raven, along the way, grabbed a thermometer and sat down in the chair that was on the right side of the bed. "O.K., Beast Boy, open your mouth." She said turning on the thermometer and setting it to the right setting.

Beast Boy opened his eyes, "Huh, oh, yeah." Closing his eyes once again, his mouth slightly ajar.

Bringing her hand up from her lap with the thermometer in it, Raven placed the oral thermometer into his mouth and let go of it. She brought her hand back to her lap and saw the thermometer slide down into the corner of his mouth. It was then she heard the same soft snoring sound she heard in the common room. Rolling her eyes with that tiny smile on her face, she readjusted the thermometer in his mouth and held it there. After a few seconds, it gave off a light beeping sound meaning it was done. Retrieving it from his mouth, she turned the tiny screen to her line of sight. When she did, her eyes widened some. _94 degrees Fahrenheit! Cyborg said his body temperature was 85. How did he gain back nine degrees in a so short amount of time?_

The young half-demon gave a sigh, "I shouldn't be surprised," She said in a low whisper, the smile coming back full force, turning her field of vision toward the green boy, "Here it is going on more than two years and there are still things that I don't know about him." She stood up from the chair and made her way over to the counter and grabbed an alcohol swap and cleaned it and placed it back into the drawer. She placed both her hands on the three foot high counter top, the smile turning into a frown. She turned her head to the right and fixed her gaze onto the sleeping boy on the bed, "But, if he keeps doing the things like he did today..." Her hands formed into fists on the counter top, she was getting upset. She turned her body to match the direction her head was facing and walked back to Beast Boy to give him an earful about what he did today. She stood beside the bed planning to wake him up until she saw his chest raise and lower with his rhythmic breathing pattern. Seeing him sleeping so peacefully eased her emotions for some reason that she didn't know of. She gave a sigh, her fists unclenched themselves, "Stupid green boy..." She muttered pulling up the chair nearest the bedside and taking a seat in it, her eyes never leaving Beast Boy's chest.

She didn't know what made her think this, but she wondered what his chest felt like. Bringing her hand away from its resting place on the armrest, she made it hover for a few seconds more, then slowly but surely, she placed it onto his chest. It was warm, considering her hands were still a little cold. _I still don't get it. How can he be so warm after being in the freezing cold outside? But, I must say it feels nice. _Beast Boy's chest raising and lowering with even steady breaths was almost like a lullaby. Raven felt herself getting drowsy, but she couldn't leave him in the Infirmary by himself. So she decided to lay her head on his chest after removing her hand, she saw his hand laying there with the palm facing upward. Bringing the same hand down, she placed it on top of his and gently squeezed it, keeping her left hand in her lap. As soon as she grabbed his hand, she felt at peace and happy. She didn't give it much thought because she soon drifted off into the dream world with that smile still on her face.

About an hour later, Beast Boy woke up, his body wanting a new position to sleep in, but something was preventing him from turning onto his right side. He opened his eyes to the semi-dim lights of the Infirmary and raised his head and almost came face to face with the pale skinned, violet eyed empath. To say he was surprised would be a little understatement, but he shouldn't be surprised by this because Raven has been unpredictable these past few weeks, but he wasn't complaining. And why, you ask, would he be complaining? Let's say Cyborg wasn't the only one that noticed how Raven's been acting toward him lately. Beast Boy looked at her face and that tiny smile that she had sometimes, but this one seemed different somehow, but he just woke up so his brain wasn't quite up to speed yet. He also felt a slight cold sensation was on his hand. Moving his line of sight to the left, he saw Raven's hand squeezing his and he smiled at this.

Keeping his gaze on his left side, he saw that her back was hunched over and legs were compressed in the small space between the chair and the bed. _That can't be to comfortable. She needs to be in her bed._ Deciding that in his head, he brought his right hand out from under his head and it felt like his hand had millions of little spiders crawling over it. _But first, I'm gonna let my hand wake up._ Laying his hand by his right side, his attention turned to the beautiful young woman who's head is laying on his chest. He noticed a stray strand of violet-blue hair fell in front of her eyes. Since his right hand was out of commission, he'd have to use his left hand, but Raven was still holding on to it. The changeling was afraid that he would wake her and she would be beyond embarrassed, but he wanted to see her face without her hair in the way. Plus if he wanted her to sleep in her bed, she'll wake up and have back and neck pain.

So taking a chance, he ever so slowly and gently removed his hand from Raven's, sliding his hand out of her slight grip. Bringing his newly freed hand to his forehead and wiping away some sweat that accumulated and breathed a sigh of relief. Moving his hand to her face, he pushed the strand behind her ear. _That's better._ It was then he realized that his right hand had finally woken up. _Now to put you in bed._ Using his legs, he gently kicked the sheets off of his lower body, and hoped that he didn't jar Raven awake. Focusing on her face, he saw that she was still sound asleep. Bringing his left and right hand up to her head, he gently grasped it in both hands and slowly lifted it off of his chest just enough for him to slide out from under her head. Upon having enough clearance, he gently set her head back down on the twin size bed. Now standing on the opposite side of the bed, he stood to his full height and stretched, his arms above his head with his upper body leaning back some. He stayed like that for three seconds then letting his arms hang limply at his side.

He then noticed that his shirt and shorts were nothing than teared remnants. Taking off his "vest", he chucked it into the nearby garbage can in the corner of the room. Then he walked over to the floor cabinet and opened it, there was another one of his black and purple Doom Patrol uniforms. Picking up the bottom part of his uniform, he slipped it on over his almost non-existent shorts. Feeling satisfied with himself, he turned his view to the sleeping woman hunched over the bed. He made his way over to her, and stopped to look at her sleep just once more, before putting his hands on both sides of where the shoulder and arm meet. He then pulled up very gently so as she was now sitting in the chair. Moving from behind her to her right side, making sure she wouldn't fall, he got down one knee and brought his right hand away from her shoulder and placed both her hands in her lap and then maneuvered his arm just under her knees, keeping his left hand on her left shoulder, allowing him to put his forearm across her shoulder blades. He picked her up bridal style with ease thanks to his muscular physique.

He made sure Raven's head fell on the left side of his chest, and her hands to still be in her lap. He went around the chair and to the door, when he got half-way there, Raven started trying to snuggle closer into his chest. He couldn't help but give a soft chuckle and grin. She didn't stop trying until Beast Boy went through the door. Turning left, he made a few strides towards Raven's bedroom twenty-five feet away from the Infirmary. He stopped in front of her door and not two seconds later the door hissed opened, allowing entrance to the one room that was off limits to the other Titans. Beast Boy continued onward, walking to her queen size bed that was near a ten foot wide window that was from the floor to the ceiling tall on the wall that was opposite of the door. The bed on the left wall along with a bookcase that was filed with ancient lore, or modern day books and next to the bookcase was a dresser with her famous meditation mirror resting on top. The right wall held pictures of the Titans in various locations, and it had the door that led to her private bathroom. He didn't bother with the lights since he has built in night vision in his eyes. Upon reaching the queen size bed, he checked to see if the covers were out of the way so he could lay Raven down, and they were. So he placed the young beauty on her bottom a few inches away from the edge, he removed his right arm from under her knees and brought his right hand down to her boots and removing them and placing them on the floor beside his right foot. Then bringing his right hand up to the clasp of her cloak and undoing it, but grabbing it before it fell down her back. Maneuvering his hand over the top of Raven's head, he pulled the cloak onto his left shoulder and let go. His left hand still holding up her upper body with her head still on his chest sleeping soundly.

Beast Boy then noticed her communicator on her belt. _I should probably get that. Don't want Cy to blow a gasket if it gets crushed, but I'm pretty sure Raven can't crush one of them. But still, I'm not __taking any chances. _He was on the receiving endof one of Cyborg's lectures about taking care of the equipment...or something like that. He wasn't really listening to him. Using his right hand, he grabbed the communicator on the left side of her waist, taking extra care not to touch anything he wasn't suppose to touch. Returning his hand to his side with her communicator, he slowly lowered her upper body onto the bed, then moving his arm behind her head, he lowered it onto the the dark blue cased pillow. He then proceeded to cover her with the dark blue sheets up to her mid stomach. Satisfied with this, he watched as Raven turned onto her right side pulling her forearms up to her upper body and her legs moving subconsciously into a more comfortable position. The green teenager turned around and made his way over to her dresser and placed her communicator onto it. Then bringing his right hand up, he grabbed the cloak, making sure he was grabbing onto the top, and then he refastened the clasp and grabbed onto both sides of it making it fan out to its full width, he then put his right forearm behind the back about a third from the top and folded the top over his forearm. Then using the dresser, he placed the folded top onto it letting the other two-thirds hang off the dresser. Then he placed his right forearm behind the bottom of the middle third and placing his left forearm on top of the middle third in the front. He then proceeded to bring his right forearm up, effectively folding the bottom third of the cloak and keeping his left forearm on the top of the middle third of the cloak. He continued bringing his right forearm up and over his left forearm and touched the top third of the cloak, then he simply slid both his forearms out from underneath the both thirds of the cloak, and grabbing the folded cloak, he turned it upside down. Now all Raven has to do is grab the top third of her cloak and the rest will fall towards the floor. Just because Beast Boy doesn't fold cloths, doesn't mean he doesn't know how.

But as soon as he placed the folded cloak on the dresser, her communicator went off with a semi-loud beeping noise. The noise Beast Boy was sure of would wake Raven, so picking it up, he dashed out of the room and flicked it open to show Robin's face.

"Raven, how's-" Robin stopped mid-sentence looking slightly surprised, "Beast Boy! Where's- How-"

"Whoa, whoa. Chill dude. One question at a time and be quiet, I just put Raven to bed." Beast Boy responded back to the Titans leader, walking a few feet away from the young empath's door.

Robin got the message, taking a few quick short breaths, he continued, "O.K. Beast Boy, where's Raven?" He said a little quieter than his outburst.

"She's asleep in her bed. She was quite out of it, having to heal me and herself, and then teleporting me and her back here." He replied back with a guilty expression on his face.

"Don't worry Beast Boy. Raven's used to that kind thing. All she needs is a good night's rest." Robin reassured the changeling with a smile, "Now, how are you feeling Beast Boy?"

"Oh me, I feel great right now, but still a little tired and I got a slight headache." The green boy said with a grin showing his prominent fang on his bottom jaw.

"O.K. then, now for the reason why I called," The boy wonder began, "Since it's nearly twelve o'clock, and the police were kind enough to give us thick coats and winter wear, Cyborg, Starfire, and I have decided to do our night patrol. We'll be back around nine o'clock. You and Raven just sleep tonight, and tomorrow, both of you will go on the day patrol. Oh, and don't worry about security, Cyborg activated the Tower's defense protocol."

"Oh, cool. I was wonderin' why you were wearing a fluffy coat," He said with a chuckle, "Oh by the way, what happened to Cinderblock?" _I know I shouldn't ask, but I just want to make sure._

Robin's face turned to one of thought, "Oh, that reminds me. When Raven and you left, we called the police and they took Cinderblock to jail." The boy wonder gave a smile, "It took me nearly an hour to convince the Chief what happened." The changeling grinned and brought a hand up to rub the back of his head. "Oh, by the way Beast Boy, what did happen back there?"

The grin fell from the green boy's face and his arm went back to his side. He didn't know if this would get into an argument or not. There were limits on how to catch every criminal in Jump City including the super villains. He was pretty sure you didn't near kill them. And plus his reason might not sound good to Robin. "I got angry." He simply said.

Robin gave a perplexed look on his face, "You got angry? Why and how did you get angry enough to almost trample Cinderblock to death? You know we don't kill the criminals. That's not in our jurisdiction." His voice had irritation laced in it.

_Yep, that answer wasn't reason enough. _Beast Boy gave a sigh,"You were behind Raven. You didn't see what I saw." He said running a hand through his shaggy head of green hair.

"Then tell me, Beast Boy," The Titans leader asked his voice still having some irritation in it, "What made you go berserk like that?"

Unbeknownst to the other two, Raven's door swished open revealing the young woman in her leotard. She poked her head out of the doorway to see what the noise was that woke her up and to find out how she got in her bed in the first place. To her surprise, it was Beast Boy speaking into a communicator, with the other person half yelling at him. _Robin._ Keeping half her body hidden, she listened in on the two boys' conversation. _Its more than likely how Beast Boy defeated Cinderblock._

"Well, I'm waiting Beast Boy." The boy wonder said his face in a scowl.

The shape-shifter had a sad expression on his face, "It was her face, Rob."

The scowl disappeared from Robin's face to be replaced by one of confusion, "Her face?" _My face? _Raven's facial features matched Robin's in terms of confusion. "What does her face have to do with it?"

Beast Boy got tired of standing on his own, so leaning up against the wall some fifteen feet away from Raven's door, he explained, "She was scared," He said simply, looking straight into the boy wonder's eyes, "She was afraid of dieing. The only time I've seen her that scared was when her dear _daddy_ came to take over the world." He said the word with malice and emphasis, "She was going to get killed, I had to do something."

"I understand where you're coming from, but you almost died Beast Boy." The boy wonder countered, "Saving a teammate by putting your own life at risk is noble, but then dieing in the cause doesn't really help matters."

"I had to. Raven is the strongest out of all of us and you know it. She stays calm and has the smarts to back it up." Beast Boy countered back, "She can just wave her hand and capture any criminal in a steel pipe or a lamp post. Then there's Cyborg, he has super strength thanks to his robotic parts, and he has all these cool gadgets he can hook up to that I don't even know the names of." The green boy started walking back and forth from wall to wall in the ten foot wide hallway, waving his free arm through the air trying to emphasize his point, "Then there's Starfire, she also super strength thanks to her being an alien that thrives off of emotions, and she can shoot lasers out of her eyes and green bolts out of her hands." The green changeling still paced back and forth in the hallway, not being able to be still, "Then there's you, Robin, you're also smart and you keep a clean head. You have acrobatic skills that come in handy when fighting the criminals we face and you can throw those discs at basicly anything."

Robin's face went from leader mode to puzzlement, "Beast Boy, I don't see your point."

The green shape-shifter stopped in the middle of the hallway with a forlorn look on his face, his eyes closed, "And then, there's me," The arm he's been waving around came to his side and hanged there, "I'm not smart. I can't shoot blue beams out of my arm. I can't shoot lasers out of my eyes. I can't throw anything at a target and actually hit it. I don't stay calm and I can't move stuff with my mind. If I didn't have my powers, I'd just another teenage boy."

Robin's face stayed the same, "Again, Beast Boy, I don't see your point in what you're saying."

Beast Boy opened his eyes his voice calm, "What I'm saying is, Raven is the most liable and I'm the least liable."

Robin was silent in thought, then it finally clicked at what Beast Boy was saying, "Beast Boy that's-" He didn't finish. A black aura surrounded the communication device and started floating towards the owner.

The communicator landed in the hands of the empath, Robin's face still on the screen. "Robin, I'll talk to Beast Boy. You go do your patrol." There was no room for argument. The boy wonder merely nodded.

"Good, talk some sense into him." With that said, the screen went fuzzy. _Oh I will._ The young half-demon flipped the communicator closed. The device started flying towards her room, the door hissing open with her power's assisting it. The communicator landing gracefully onto her dresser. Raven did all this without taking her eyes off of the green boy in front of her. She began to walk toward her friend in her graceful manner, her eyes locked with his.

Beast Boy seeing this was trying to think of something. He tried moving, but his legs wouldn't do as their told. So, he did the only thing he could do: change the subject. He brought a hand up to rub the back of his head, "Hey Rae, uh, nice weather we're having huh?" A grin on his face.

Raven stopped three feet in front of him, "Don't you dare change the subject." She crossed her arms in front of her chest and a scowl on her face, "Do you actually believe what you're thinking?" She was upset that Beast Boy thought of himself like that.

The smile slowly fell along with his arm. He gave a sigh, "Yes, because they're true. So don't even try to tell me differently. If I didn't have my powers, I'd be useless." He said looking down to his right.

Raven's face still held the scowl, "Fine, I won't. But, you do have your powers, so you are a member of this team, so quit thinking otherwise. And besides," The young woman uncrossed her arms and stepped forward, closing the three foot span between them, and wrapped her arms around his body, leaving his arms out. She was just tall enough to where her head could rest on his chest without standing on her toes, the scowl fading from her facial features, "You are just liable as me or any of the others on this team."

Beast Boy looked down at the top of the empath's head. He supposed he's been stressing over nothing. The green changeling gave a sigh and brought his arms up and wrapped them around Raven's petite frame, "Thanks Rae. I guess I just needed to here that." Beast Boy unwrapped his arms from her with a smile on his face, while the violet haired beauty did the same, backing away a foot to get some distance between them.

"Did you come back to what little sense you have?" She asked, a tiny smile present on her face. Beast Boy gave a nod, his smile turning into a full-blown grin with his fang sticking out. "Good," Her smile returned to her stoic expression, "Because next time I won't say it, I'll just smack you." With that said she turned around to head back to her room leaving a laughing changeling in the hallway. She was in arms reach of the door when Beast Boy got her attention again.

"Raven, uh, can I ask you something?" The young empath turned around and nodded. "Can I, um, would it be alright if, uh," He took in a long breath to calm himself, "Would it be O.K. if I slept with you in your bed?" She did what he expected her to do: she raised her left eyebrow, which means to explain. "I mean, you know, I'm still recovering from tonight's battle, and I don't want to sleep in the Infirmary beds, they are not that comfortable. And I want you to sleep in your bed, but I know you won't if I'm sleeping in the infirmary." He took in a breath. "So I figured if I slept in your bed, you wouldn't have to watch me, and you get a good nights sleep." He finished. Now all that was needed was the half-demon's permission.

She stood there with her eyes closed and her arms crossed. She stayed like that for a few seconds, until her eyes opened, "I suppose that's reasonable." She uncrossed her arms, "Just don't do anything funny."

Beast Boy gave a chuckle, making his way over to her, "Since when have I done anything funny in front of you?" He asked stopping in front of her. Raven rolled her eyes with that tiny smile on her face that only Beast Boy can put there. Giving a grin of his own, he stepped around her right side and stopped in front of the door, it automatically opening. He didn't enter, instead he moved out of the way and looked at Raven, "Ladies first." He said gesturing with his left hand toward the room. The young woman's smile got a little wider.

"Thank you." She said walking past the changeling into her room, making light and graceful footsteps against the floor. She expected to hear Beast Boy's heavy footsteps, but didn't. She was half-way to her queen size bed when she heard the door closed, but still didn't hear his footsteps. So she decided to turn around and see why he wasn't following her. She turned her gaze toward the door and didn't see him. She was just about to call his name, when she felt something rub against her ankle. It was warm and it had fur. She lowered her line of sight and saw a green cat brushing up on her right ankle, going in circles around it. Then he started doing the same thing to her left ankle. She came to realize that it felt nice, and, as a added bonus, he was warming up her feet. She zoned out for maybe a couple of minutes, looking up slightly with her eyes closed, and by that time, Beast Boy stopped what he was doing, and sat down in front of her looking up at her with his head cocked slightly to the side, his tail wrapped loosely around his legs. Coming back to reality, she noticed that the warm feeling around her feet was gone. Opening her eyes, she brought her vision down to the floor, and saw the green feline with a perplexed look on its face. "What?" She asked, and she could of sworn she saw her furry friend smile, but cats don't smile...right? The house cat stood on all fours, unwrapping his tail from around his legs. Then turning his head to the right, at the same time making his eyesight parallel with the floor, he casually walked over to Raven's bed and stopped at the side of it. Then he jumped onto it with cat-like grace. He turned completely around so he was facing the young beauty again and sat down near the pillow, his tail loosely wrapping itself around his legs. The half-demon walked to her two foot high bed, the small feline's eyesight never leaving her face, "You're going to sleep in that form?" The cat gave a nod, then standing back up, he walked over to where a pillow was, but stopped right before he got on it. He then proceeded to spin in a clockwise circle three times before lieing down, his head facing toward the center of the bed with his tail wrapped around his right side, the end of it under his neck.

Raven, having seen enough, turned to her left some, so she could sit on the edge of her bed. She scooted back some in order to avoid lieing on Beast Boy. After having enough clearance, she layed down on her right side and brought the sheets on the bed up to her mid-stomach. Then, bending her elbows, she brought her forearms close to her upper body, nearly touching her bosom. Then after that, she moved her legs so that her right leg was relatively straight and her left leg was slightly bent at the knee, so her left foot rested on the mattress. Now that she was comfortable, she could sleep. She already heard the deep breathing pattern of the feline lieing four inches from her face, which meant that he was asleep already. Her attention stayed on the green cat that was in front of her. She examined his face and saw that he was calm and peaceful. She didn't know why, but, she wanted to pet him. Back when she was a little girl, she wasn't allowed to care for anything. Out of fear that it would be dead the next day. So, lifting her left hand away from its position near her bosom, she gently placed it onto the head of the cat, and then moving it slowly across the top of it. She liked how warm the small feline's head felt against her hand. She smiled at this. Readjusting her hand to where it was behind the right ear of the small animal, she started gently scratching there, and to her surprise, she heard a sound coming from her feline friend. _He's purring._ She thought bringing her hand back to its previous position next to her body. What she thought next surprised even her, _I want to hold him._ So, lifting her left arm again, she positioned her arm around the left leg of the one foot and two inch long cat beside her. She then proceeded to slowly drag the back half of him toward her, then repositioning her arm so that it was touching the cat's shoulder blades, she dragged the last half of him toward her. The cat now rested between her right arm, which was near her bosom, and her left arm, which was on the left side of the feline. The cat's face a hair's width from touching her chin. The young woman layed her left forearm on the left side of her furry friend, her elbow bent right at the cat's backside. She brought her left arm closer to her body, now her arm was touching the small feline. When she did that, the same sound from before started emitting from it. She didn't know whether he was doing it subconsciously or not, but she didn't have time to think about it because the after effects of the purring was kicking in. She soon found herself entering the dream world once again.

Roughly seven hours later, Beast Boy awoke. Upon awaking with a yawn, he stood up and stretched his front legs forward, then bringing back his front legs, he stretched his back legs upwards along with his back. When his back legs returned to him, he sat down with his front legs straight and the knees of his back legs up to sides with his tail wrapped around his right front and back legs. Opening his eyes, he observed his surroundings and saw a bookcase...that was moving up and down. In fact, everything in the room was moving up and down. _Wait a minute, why is everything moving? _Bringing his vision down, he saw that he was on something soft, and warm. He noticed what he was on was moving. _So that explains why the room was moving, but that doesn't explain what I'm on._ Moving his line of sight up while turning his head to the right, he saw a face that was slightly turned to the left. It was non-other the empath herself. Her left arm laying by her side, while her right arm was positioned to where her hand was beside her head. Her left knee was pointing towards the side of the bed with her shin underneath her right leg's knee, which was relatively straight. After getting his bearings, he finally figured out where exactly his position was. _How did I get on Raven's stomach? I could of swore that I __fell asleep on the bed._ He thought returning his line of sight to his feet, then bringing his eyesight back to the young beauty's face. He then noticed that she had a smile on her face, but it wasn't her normal smile. It was the same smile she had when he woke up in the Infirmary and found her sleeping on his chest. He decided to get a closer look this time. So unwrapping his tail from his legs, he stood up and jumped down from her stomach and landed on her left side, taking care not to land on her arm. He gently walked up to her face, now he can inspect her smile more closely without the fear of waking her up. Stopping just three inches from hers, he examined her smile. There was something about it that was puzzling to him. He saw Raven smile before, but this smile had something else in it, happiness...content, or maybe even...

He didn't have enough time to ponder this, however, because the half-demon stirred, making Beast Boy back step a couple of paces. Turning her head to the right, she brought her right hand up to her right eye to rub away the early morning grogginess that comes with waking up early. Then sitting up, making what little cover that was on her stomach fall down to her lap and her left leg to straighten out some. While she was rubbing her right eye, her small feline friend climbed onto her lap and sat down with his front legs straight and the knees of the back legs up to his sides, thus making her open her left eye and lowering her somewhat blurry vision down onto our favorite changeling. "Good morning, Beast Boy," She said moving her right hand to her left eye to rub it for a few seconds, and at the same time, moving her left hand to rest on top of the cat's head. Then she proceeded to pet the small animal in front of her, starting with its head, then down the neck and stopping half-way down the back, then bringing her hand back up, she repeated the action, "What time is it?" The green feline turned his head to the left and looked at her dresser, which has a clock resting atop it. Focusing his emerald colored eyes onto the red digital numbers of the clock, it said seven-ten A.M. Straightening his head with his body, he looked up at the pale faced woman and meowed, making the seventeen-year-old smile slightly. "I can't exactly understand cat, Beast Boy." She said resting her hand, palm down, on her bed. Still stroking the green house cat in her lap, she turned her head to the right and saw the digital clock on her dresser. "Seven-eleven." Returning her head to its previous position, she lowered her vision down to her morphed friend. As soon as she did, she heard a growl come from the stomach of the small creature. The green feline looked down to his stomach, then back up to the pale faced beauty. The young woman gave a tiny smile, "So, want some breakfast?"

Ok, now that you read the second chapter, here is my biggest question:

[1] Should I jack the rating up to M? Because there will be fights in this story that probably won't be for people with weak stomachs.

This next and last question is just to see what my fans know:

[2] Put in your review, if you actually do review this chapter, what you think the two oppositions are in my story. I'm asking if you know who exactly are at war with each other. If you get it right, I'll send you a message and give you a big air pat on the back.

Again thanks for reading my story, I am having a blast writing this. ^_^


	3. Chapter 3

Hey, DTF here with the third chapter of this highly liked story. I must say that I'm proud of myself for making something that other people like.

**Read This or you might get confused: the paragraphs that are **_italic_ **represents the things that happened on the Titans big screen T.V. in the common room. Everything else is thought.**

Now, sit back, relax, and turn the background to black. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Same as always.

_

* * *

__Chapter Three_

The face of the small green cat seemed to brighten from the mentioning of breakfast. The four legged animal meowed placing its two front paws onto Raven's stomach. The said empath couldn't help but smile at him, "Don't get too excited," She said still petting the feline in her lap with her left hand, "I still can't cook, remember?" She reminded him. It was true, after all this time, the half-demon still couldn't cook to save her life. She tried numerous times to cook something eatable, but it ended in disaster. And by disaster, the kitchen needed to be remodeled. So she stopped trying altogether, but a certain green teenage boy keeps telling her to try.

The green house cat lifted his front paws off of her stomach, then twisted his upper body to the left, keeping his paws from touching the bed. Raven, seeing what he was doing, decided to stop petting him and place her left hand onto the bed, palm down. The green feline continuing his motion, jumped out of her lap and landed onto the bed, then continuing from there, he jumped onto the floor of Raven's room and morphing into his human self, still wearing nothing but the lower half of his Doom Patrol uniform and gloves. His back to her, he decided to turn around so he could face her, "Aww, c'mon, just because you made something that Silkie wouldn't eat doesn't mean you have to quit." The violet-eyed woman raised her left eyebrow, "All you need is practice. Well, in any case, it's a good thing you got a certified chef right here." He said using his right thumb to point to himself and grinned, showing his prominent fang.

The empath rolled her eyes, but decided to humor him, "O.K., Chef Beast Boy, what do you plan to make for breakfast?" She asked still sitting relatively in the middle of her queen size bed, a tiny smile on her face. The thin blanket resting in her lap with the rest spread out over the foot of the mattress.

The young man standing two and half feet from the side of the bed gave a thoughtful expression, placing his right index finger and thumb onto his chin, "I was gonna have some orange juice and pancakes. I'm guessing you want some waffles with some herbal tea?" He said with a grin on his face.

The pale empath thought about it for a few seconds, "Yes, that would be satisfactory." She responded to his question with some emotion in her voice.

The green changeling turned around and started walking toward the door, "Alright, breakfast'll be ready in a few minutes...or maybe thirty," He gave a chuckle, "Depends on how long it will take me to find the waffle maker." Upon reaching the door, it hissed open, allowing him to exit Raven's humble abode. He turned to the right to start down the hallway, but when he did, he didn't see nothing in his peripheral vision. So he stopped and looked back into the room, "You comin'?"

The young half-demon sitting on her bed brought her line of sight up from her lap to Beast Boy's face, "I'll be down shortly." She saw the green teenage boy give a nod and continued his trek to the small kitchenette in the common room. She lowered her gaze back to her lap, now that he was gone, she could think about what happened this last twenty-four hours. She first recalled seeing Beast Boy under that slab of concrete, then she saw him transform, and nearly lose himself, into his T. Rex form. The next thought that flashed in her mind made her chest hurt for reasons unknown to her. It was when Beast Boy, still in his T. Rex form, fell over in the cold, dead night air and landing in the snow and appearing lifeless. She raised her right hand off of the mattress up to her bosom and placed it where her heart is in hopes to quell the pain, but not having such luck. Her memory then flashed the green changeling in the Infirmary bed with her head laying upon his chest and her right hand in his left. The sound of his even breaths in her mind eased the pain in her chest. She was confused by this. She thought back to yesterday's battle and the same effect happened. Her chest started to ache. Then, she thought of when she was sleeping on his chest, and the pain faded away. She came to the conclusion that she needed to have a talk with her emotions later today. Losing herself to her thought process, she came to realize it has already been fifteen minutes since Beast Boy left her room.

Removing her hand from her bosom, she placed it back onto the bed to help her scoot closer to the side of the mattress. Upon reaching the edge, she swung her legs over, letting her feet touch the floor, but jerking her feet up. The floor was quite cold compared to the air. Bringing her vision to the floor, she saw her dark blue boots sitting to the left of her feet. She brought her left hand down and grabbed her right boot and slipped it onto her foot, doing the same for the other. Replacing her feet onto the floor, she was satisfied that the cold sting of the flat surface didn't reach her feet. While she was sitting there, she decided to stretch. She raised her arms above her head, leaning slightly back, then she leaned to the left and right to stretch her obliques. Upon finishing, she lowered her arms and stood up. Moving her line of sight to her dresser, she saw her communicator and her cloak. The young empath walked over to the three and a half foot high piece of furniture and stopped in front of it. She raised her right hand and was about to grab her communicator, when her gaze fell onto her neatly folded cloak. Her hand, following her gaze, placed itself onto her cloak. _I don't remember doing this._ She thought with a puzzled expression on her face. Then her face changed to one of pleasant surprise with a tiny smile appearing on her lips, _And yet you surprise me again Beast Boy._ Picking her hand up from her cloak, she grasped the communication device and attached it to her chain belt. Bringing her vision back up from her belt, she stared at her cloak for a few seconds, then she started walking to the door leaving behind the neatly folded piece of clothing laying on the top of her dresser. The pale young woman was two feet away from the door before it swished open allowing the occupant to exit. Instead of continuing forward, she stopped inside of the doorway. She turned half-way around as to not strain her neck, then she turned her head the rest of the way and looked back to the lone piece of clothing resting atop her dresser.

This would be basicly the first time she walked in the Tower without her cloak. The half-demon stared at the aforementioned piece of clothing before she returned to her previous position with a tiny smile that wasn't to far away from a smirk. _It's time I surprise him for a change._ With that thought, she continued through the doorway, turned right, and started walking down the hallway. After twenty feet, she turned left and walked another thirty feet, passing storage closets and control panels, and came to the common room door. The seventeen-year-old stopped just before she was in front of the door so that it wouldn't open. She took a deep breath to calm herself because, after all, she was a little nervous. _Now or never._ With that in mind, she paced forth, stepping in front of the door allowing it to hiss open. When she did, she was blinded, her eyesight used to the dim lights of the hallway and her room, the morning sun coming in through the floor to ceiling high windows. Closing her eyes, she brought up her right arm up to shield her eyesight from the sun. She blinked her eyes to get her vision used to the bright sunshine. A few seconds later she lowered her arm back down to her side, when she did this, she saw the green changeling placing a couple of plates onto the bar. The empath saw one plate had four pancakes while the other had two of her delectable waffles. The shape-shifter turned around and stopped in front of the stove, placing his hands in his pockets with his thumbs sticking out. The young woman wondered why he was standing there for. So, she paced closer, side-stepping to the right by a foot to see past Beast Boy, to the stove to see what the green boy was waiting on. The half-demon's vision went from the back of the young man's head to her tea pot on the stove starting to boil. _He's making my tea._ Her line of sight returned to the back of Beast Boy's head, her lips forming a smile.

Beast Boy, having felt being watched, decided to turn around and saw non-other then Raven standing there without her cloak and a smile on her face. Giving a grin of his own and taking his right hand out of his pocket and giving a slight wave, "Hey Rae, I was just about to come get ya. Didja get your meditation done?" He didn't really know whether or not she was actually meditating, so he was taking a guess since he stopped bugging her because she threatened to throw him off the top of the building and she carried out that threat. Every now and then he would distract her from her task, and since she didn't get mad at that, he would only do it once in awhile.

That single question raised more questions in Raven's mind. It was true, every morning she would have to meditate to keep her powers in check so as to not blow something up unexpectedly. _I didn't meditate this morning. But, my powers aren't in flux, there in perfect balance, but how could this be?_ _This hasn't happened even after the fall of Trigon. _Even though her father is gone, the pale empath still had to meditate at least twice a day to keep her powers in sync. The petite half-demon was so caught up in her thoughts that Beast Boy already poured her tea and moved in front of her waving his right hand in her face and calling her name to get her attention. Coming back to reality, her vision becoming more focused, she saw a grey glove waving in her face. Her eye sight rose to see a puzzled expression on Beast Boy's face. His body was slightly bent over to look Raven in the face.

Having seen the violet eyed beauty move her head, the teenage changeling brought his hand back to his side and standing back to his full height_, _"Something wrong Rae?" He asked walking over to the table in between the semi-circle couch and flat-screen T.V., "You spaced out there for a couple of minutes." He continued, retrieving the remote and turning on the T.V. and switching the channel to a news station. He was wanting to know the temperature outside since he was going on a day patrol.

The young woman watched the green boy actions, "No, nothing's wrong. Just had a lot on my mind."

Beast Boy placed the remote back onto the table and walked over to the bar with the two plates of food resting atop it. "If you say so," He knew not to push because even after these two years, the empath still liked her privacy. Grabbing the plate full of pancakes into his left hand, "But if you ever want to talk, you know where find me and that goes for the others as well." He said stopping beside Raven and placing his right hand on her shoulder, "Remember, Rae, you're not alone." With that said, he removed his hand and trudged toward the common room doors. "Oh, I'm taking these to Silkie, I'll be right back." He said over his shoulder.

The half-demon looked behind her to where the shape-shifter exited at and gave a sigh. _Maybe I should...if I keep it in, it might end in disaster._ Bringing her sight to the two waffles on the bar, she walked over to it and noticed they were still warm. She examined the bar trying to find the syrup. It was then she saw her cup of herbal tea sitting next to the syrup. _When did he pour my tea?_ Taking the aforementioned cup into her hands, she saw the steam coming up from the cup meaning it was still had heat. Bringing it to her lips, she took a sip. To say the least, she expected it to taste like one of Starfire's Tamaranean dishes, but it didn't. If she didn't know better, it tasted better than when she would make it. That fact brought a tiny smile to her face. _And yet, he surprises me again._ Taking her right hand off of her cup, she grabbed the syrup bottle and poured what she considered a decent amount onto her waffles. After that, she set the bottle back onto the bar, and using her powers, she levitated a fork into her hand. She placed it onto her plate and lifted it with her free hand and walked over to the couch to see what was happening in the world. The empath took a seat relatively in the middle and set her cup onto the table, and lifted her fork with her right hand and started to eat the waffles Beast Boy had prepared and listened to the local news station on the screen.

"_Good morning and welcome back." The anchorman said as the station came back on the air, he was wearing a professional looking blue suit with a tie that was the same color. His hair was cut and his face was cleanly shaved. The anchorman was maybe in his mid-forties, his light brown hair having a few specks of grey in it and his face having a few wrinkles showing he's been around. "A local gas station was robbed last night, but it wasn't the money that was stolen, and it's making the authorities very anxious. On the scene reporter Trisha Harvey has more information about this developing case. Trisha." The screen went from the news desk to the reporter at the crime scene. She was a fairly attractive woman looking to be in her late thirties to early forties having dark brown hair that came to her shoulder and wearing a tan colored fluffy coat with a scarf around her neck along with mittens on her hands, all in a desperate attempt to keep the cold from her body. "Thanks Dave. As you can see behind me, this local Shell station was robbed last night at an undetermined time. Everything in the store was accounted for except for one thing: the unleaded gas below this complex. The police say that this is a serious matter since the gas reservoir was completely empty when the owner came to open shop, but discovering the power was cut off. I talked to a officer and this is what he had to say." The screen went to a prerecording of Trisha interviewing one of the police officers that shortly arrived there. The police officer that Trisha talked to was a fit man, being in his prime. His hair was a sandy blond, but you couldn't really tell since he had it buzzed down near his skull. He was wearing his traditional police uniform, his firearm in its holster resting on his right hip with his night stick hanging limply on his left hip with a black leather jacket to cover his upper body with the letters 'JCPD' on the back, "This is a very serious and dangerous matter. The criminals who done this knew what they were doing, and depending on how much gas was in the reservoir, there could be major arson fire outbreaks through out the city, not to mention they could use the gas to make numerous IEDs. And since they cut the power to the station itself and the surrounding buildings, there was no camera footage of the people who did this." That being the end of the recording, the screen went back to Trisha, "The police don't have any leads, but suspect one of gangs to be behind this."_

Raven swallowed the last piece of waffle that was in her mouth and rose up off the couch to set her plate onto the table and retrieved her cup of steaming hot tea, then sitting back down in the same place. It was then she heard the common room door hiss open. So turning her body to the right allowing her legs to touch the front of the couch, then turning her upper body to the right slightly and then her neck, she spotted Beast Boy empty handed walking towards the couch, "We have a problem Beast Boy." Her vision followed the shape-shifter, her body also following her gaze, continue to walk towards the semi-circle couch and sat down on Raven's right side.

"You're telling me," The green boy said holding up his hands in front of his upper body, "I almost lost my fingers to 'captain cuddles' up in Starfire's room." He finished, counting his fingers then his two thumbs, making sure they were there. "I kinda need these to beat Cy at video games."

The empathic half-demon sighed, "That's not what I meant. There's..." She was about to explain what happened last night until she noticed that he didn't have the plate that held the four pancakes from earlier, "Beast Boy, where's the plate you had?"

The changeling lowered his hands back into his lap, "Oh, um, about that." He gave a chuckle, "It seems Silkie still doesn't know the difference between food and dishware. So, what's this problem you spoke of?"

Raven was about to explain once again, but was interrupted by the T.V. monitor going from the news station to a map of Jump City. The map had four symbols on it, three of them were the same green dot and the last to be a red dot. The green dots showing the positions of their friends, each of them maybe an hour and a half away from the current situation. It showed cross hairs zooming in on the red dot, then showing video footage of a fire fight between a couple of squad cars and, forty-feet away from the cars, seven gangsters. The four policemen were behind their cars, using them as shields from the bullets being unleashed from the thugs. The video also showed pedestrians running for their lives in random directions away from the gunfire.

The pale-skinned half-demon rose from the couch and made her way toward a chair with a control interface sitting in front of it with the green changeling following behind her. The violet-eyed empath sat down in the chair, the shape-shifter stood on her left side, being sure to keep an eye on Beast Boy to make sure he doesn't run out like last time. She pressed a button allowing her control over the camera that was transmitting the footage to them, then pressing another button making the small screen in front of the chair to show the same video that was being played on the bigger screen. Placing her right hand on a joy stick, she rotated the camera ,that was perpendicular to the the gunfight, over the scene to get the gist of the situation. First, she panned the camera over the seven gangsters to see what gang they belonged to. Each of them were wearing dark sunglasses with a orange bandana covering their mouths and noses while wearing the same color boggans on their heads along with lighter orange colored coats around their upper bodies. Three of the gangsters were wearing tan colored pants with black boots while the other four were wearing blue jeans, but two of them had athletic sneakers and the other two were wearing brown work boots. The three wearing the tan colored pants were armed with Tech 9s and they were in front of the other four crouching. The other four behind them were armed with 9mm Uzis, only firing when their three comrades stop firing themselves and vice versa. Judging by what they were wearing, they belonged to a gang called the _JC Punks_. Raven moved the camera over behind the hoodlums and saw two cars parked in the street with the doors open. From what she could tell, one of the two cars was a 1969 Camero SS. The other was a 1972 Dodge Challenger. The pale-skinned woman didn't expect anything less from them because, after all, these cars, if tuned right, could accelerate faster and maneuver turns better than the police squad cars.

After examining the crooks, the young woman moved the joy stick left to see how the policemen were fairing. As she guessed, they weren't doing well. The two squad cars had bullet holes on the opposite side the policemen were on. She saw that three of the officers were men and the last one was a woman. They couldn't get a shot off because they were being suppressed by the gunfire of the opposition. She noticed that the right side of the cars had flat tires and the cars were leaking gas. She decided to see what street the fire fight was taking place at. _Jump Avenue._ Her eyes widened slightly. _That's near a school district, if Beast Boy saw that, he'd be gone in no time._ She looked out of the corner of her left eye and saw Beast Boy, with a thoughtful and serious expression on his face, observing the bigger screen. She remembers that part of the city since the Titans did a fund raiser for the elementary school there to help out with buying new textbooks. Her and Beast Boy manned a dunk tank while Robin manned a karate course, Starfire manned a beauty booth, and Cyborg manned a car wash booth.

Raven kept her vision on the green changeling. She saw his face go from thoughtful and serious to one of fear and concern. _He remembered._ Beast Boy turned to his left about to use his right leg to push off until he felt a grip on his left wrist. "Stop right there Beast Boy." The pale empath said, her right hand having a firm grip on his wrist.

The green shape-shifter turned his head to what was restricting him from moving forward. He saw the half-demon with a glare present on her face. "You know I can't do that Rae." He spoke calmly back. He was guessing she was still a bit upset about what happened to him in last night's battle. "Please let go of my wrist."

"And you know I can't do that," Her glare seemed to intensify, "What are you thinking? That shoot out is near the North-Eastern section of the city. By the time you get there, it will be over and if you get there by chance—and that's a very slim chance because I'm not letting you go—you will more than likely get shot. You're not invincible." She tried reasoning with him. "Remember last month when we got a transmission saying there was a shipment of AP rounds stolen from the manufacturer." Her glare lessened at the memory, "When we found the individual who stole the AP rounds, you got shot near your heart." She looked down to the ground and closed her eyes, the glare that was present faded, as if she was reliving the aforementioned thought. Her grip still firm on the green boy's wrist.

Beast Boy relaxed his left arm, "Yes, I did, but you healed me. See," Bringing his right hand to his chest, he pointed to a place just to the left of where his heart is, "Not even a scar."

After hearing that, Raven's eyes shot open and her head jerked up to allow her vision to set upon the green boy's face, her glare back full force, "Beast Boy, that bullet was just a centimeter away from hitting your heart and it doesn't matter how hard I try, I can't heal the dead."

"Yeah, Cy told me the same thing." He said letting his right hand hang limply by his side. He was about to say something else when his ears didn't pick up any noise, not even from the fire fight on the screen. Taking his eyes away from the beautiful empath in front of him and placing them on the screen, he saw the thugs weren't firing their weapons but were trying to. All that came from the screen was clicking of the hammers.

_Then a figure, wearing blue denim shorts that came down to his knees with a pair of athletic shoes and an unbuttoned dark blue muscle shirt, that showed off his toned chest and six pack abs, with a female wolf taking care of her pups in the background on the back of the article of clothing with the male wolf crouched down slightly ready to pounce anything that he felt that threatened his family showing its fangs in the foreground, appeared twenty feet in front of the gangsters, as if he just phased into existence, making the snow that fell in the night swirl around him for a few seconds before it settled back onto the ground. His eyes were a deep blue color and his face had a semi-serious expression plastered on it. His back was facing the police squad cars, his front facing the hoodlums, while his right hand was holding onto the hilt of his katana sliding it back into its scabbard. As soon as the guard made that distinguishable clang against the scabbard mouth, removing his right hand from the handle and letting it rest by his side, then placing both his hands into his pockets with the thumbs sticking out, the guns fell apart. It seems they were cut into various sized pieces with this figure's sword, but the hands of the members' were untouched. "Whew, that was close." The figure turned his body slightly to the left and then his neck, allowing his vision to set upon the cop cars, "From the way things were goin', those cars would've been blown sky high, huh." He said straightening his body and his neck so that he was facing the goons again. "Hey officers, you can come arrest 'em now." He called out over his shoulder. "Their unarmed." The four policemen rose off of the hard pavement and looked over the hoods of their squad cars and saw the gangster members, as he said, unarmed, and they also saw the lone figure standing a little ways away from the culprits, but they weren't going to ask how he did it. _

The pale half-demon saw that Beast Boy was going to say something but saw his attention go to the screen behind her and she heard a voice. Taking her hand away from the green changeling's wrist, she turned around and saw the lone figure standing relatively in the middle of the whole ordeal, the gangster members' body language portrayed that they were puzzled as to who or what this person is...at least, he looked human. The young woman's facial features probably matched that of the gang members', if you could see their faces that is. She paused where she stood, trying to remember if she has seen this new person before, "Beast Boy, who is that?" She asked, still observing the screen, after a few seconds and coming up with nothing.

The green-skinned boy chuckled, "I was gonna ask you the same thing," Then he brought his right hand up to the right side of his head and started scratching there, "Though I wonder who he is. He looks familiar."

The empath glanced over her left shoulder, "So you don't know who that is?"

Bringing his vision down from the screen and onto the pale girl, the changeling gave a sheepish grin, his right hand returning to his side, "Um, no." His grin faded and his facial expression went to one of hope, "Do you think he's on our side?" He asked, his line of sight returning to the huge flat-screen.

Raven's eyesight also reverting back to the screen, "I don't know, it depends on how he handles this situation." She said crossing her arms across her chest. With that said, the two Titans watched what was about to unfold.

_The seven gangster members could do nothing as the four policemen came from around their cars, each with their pistol ready and waiting, pulled up beside their new comrade taking aim at the opposition twenty feet from where they're standing. "Freeze! Don't move!" One of the male officers shouted out. The female officer pulled up next to the unknown savior's right side, her pistol aimed for one of the crooks and then changing to another after a few seconds, "Thanks, who ever you are." The recipient of the response gave a grin, "No problem." Another one of the officers pulled up on the person's left side, "Yeah man, thanks. We were in trouble there until you showed up." Again, the recipient responded with a grin. The third officer came up beside the female officer and gave a thumbs up with his left hand, while the fourth one read the rights to the seven thugs twenty or so feet away from them. Unbeknownst to the policemen and the mystery person, however, one of the thugs crouching down had a pistol hidden on the side of his black boot. This was their fall back plan just encase something went wrong. The thug eased his right hand to the boot while the four officers were distracted. His other comrades were watching his every move thanks to the sunglasses over their eyes. They were waiting for him to shoot and then they would make a break for it to their getaway cars. The thug had his hand on the handle and his finger on the trigger. All he needed to do was point somewhere and shoot. With the officers preoccupied, he glanced over to the his right and saw his friend give a slight nod of confirmation. Looking back straight ahead of him, he thought about which one he ought to pop a cap into. He examined the officers and concluded that they were probably wearing kevlar jackets underneath their uniform and coats and decided that his best bet was the one with the exposed chest. That was his target. Tightening his grip on the firearm, he whipped it out and fired a couple of pot shots at his victim. The rest of his buddies made their way toward their cars. The lone five foot ten inch figure didn't move, not because he didn't want to nor was he surprised by it, but he couldn't, judging from the angle of the gun, the bullets would of traveled a much larger distance than normal and would of made contact with a pedestrian running from the scene. So, he let them make contact with him instead. The two pieces of lead lodging themselves into his lower left side, but the bullets missed any vital organ. His left hand went instinctively to his wound. A small trickle of blood made its way down his side, somewhat staining his muscle shirt._

_The officer that told them to freeze shouted out "Gun!", thus making it clear that the officers can retaliate with force. The first one shot him in the shoulder, making him drop the gun, rendering the thug helpless, but the other officers each fired at least one round, if the bullets connected, the thug would be killed, but he was just a teenager. The lone figure seeing this put his right hand on hilt of his katana, then moving faster than the naked eye could see, he disappeared from beside the policemen and reappeared in front of the impaired thug, who was on his back with his sunglasses knocked off of his face exposing his brown eyes, down on his left knee, his right side facing the oncoming projectiles. He drew his katana from the sheath with his right hand, taking care to hold it tight otherwise the flying shards of metal would knock his sword out of his hand, making the tip of the blade point to the left and the blade edge face the ground, and angling the sword at a slight twenty degrees from the ground and angling the katana another thirty degrees from his body so that the tip was the farthest away and the hilt closest. He managed to deflect the three bullets into the ground by using the blade of the katana and his fast reflexes. Glancing behind himself, the lone sword-wielder could hear the screech of tires against the salted pavement. It seems the others managed to get away. The figure stood up to his full height while sheathing his sword and taking his left hand off of his wound and made a semi-clenched fist with it, while making sure to keep his right side facing the officers of the law, after all, he didn't want them to see his wound healing itself. The downed hoodlum, having closed his eyes after hearing three separate gun shots, opened them to see the katana wielding person standing in front of him. The gangster member rose to a sitting position with confusion etched onto his face, "Who the hell are you?" He asked while holding his injured shoulder. The lone swordsman turned completely toward the afflicted crook, and got down on his left knee, "Just someone trying to make a difference." He answered back, his locket hanging in the air off of his chest. He started to rise, but relaxed again, "Oh, I think these are yours." He brought his left hand up and opened it to let the two remnants of metal shards that connected with his side hit the ground in front of the punk. With that, he stood up, put his hands into his pockets the same way as earlier and walked around the the gangster member and made his way down the street heading east. He could also hear in the background the notorious sound of police sirens. It seemed a passerby called the police before he got there. _

_The four police officers saw him leaving, but it was the female officer that called out to him, "Hey, who are you and where are you going?" She asked letting her right hand with her firearm rest beside her side. _

_The person kept on walking but answered her back, "No one and no where in particular." It was then he stopped and picked up what looks like a shoulder strap backpack, hanging the strap onto his left shoulder letting the backpack fall onto his right hip, and looked up into the clear blue sky, "Do you have the time?"_

_The officer of the law looked at her friends, the one that gave a thumbs up shrugged his shoulders. So she put her firearm into its holster and brought out her cell phone. The duel screened device showed the time and date when the flip phone was closed. The female officer brought her vision to the small screen, "It's seven forty-five. Why?" She asked, curious as to why he wanted to know the time._

_The medium built teenager turned around to face the policemen while lowering his vision from the sky to their faces, "A promise." He said giving a smile in his response. With that, he turned around and continued on his trek down the street with his hands in his pockets, leaving the officers confused but didn't pry into the affairs of someone that saved their lives. Would you?_

Back at the Tower, the green changeling couldn't keep his excitement to himself, "He's on our side!," He shouted throwing his closed right fist into the air, "Dude, that was so awesome. Man, didja see that Rae?" He asked letting his arm return to his side.

"Beast Boy, just because he has special abilities doesn't mean he's on our side," She reasoned, "And stop shouting. I'm right here." She said, uncrossing her arms and pressing a button on the control interface, making the footage from the camera cease and the giant flat screen T.V. turn off.

"Oh, sorry. But, how can he not be? I mean, he saved a member of the _JC Punks_ from being killed." He countered.

Bending her right arm at the elbow, allowing her right hand to reach her chin, and at the same time bending her left arm at the elbow and placing her left hand under her right elbow for support, she placed her thumb and index finger on her chin. She remembered that the new "hero" said something about a promise. "Maybe that's why he did it." She concluded out loud.

The green teenage boy watching her had a puzzled expression etched onto his face, "Who did what?"

The pale half-demon gave a sigh, letting her arms rest to their respective sides, "The swordsman. Maybe that's why he saved that member. To fulfill a 'promise'." She said, turning to face her green teammate.

"Mmm," The shape-shifter's face changed to one of thought, "I don't think so." He finally said after a few seconds.

The pale-skinned girl rose an eyebrow, "You don't?" She said keeping her face stoic, "Care to explain." As you can tell, that wasn't a question. That was a command.

Beast Boy looked at the young woman in the eyes, "A hunch." He said with a grin.

"A hunch?" She repeated.

"Yep, a hunch," He said, turning his body around to face the common room door, "I'll be in the gym for the next hour or so, or until Robin and the others get back." He said over his shoulder.

Raven looked at the back of his head with curiosity. Beast Boy wasn't known to go to the gym willingly. _Why is he going to the gym?_ She decided to relay that thought to her mouth, "Why are you going to the gym?"

Beast Boy stopped some thirty-five feet away from the petite young woman and turned half-way around, "I kinda missed last weeks work out session." He said rubbing the back of his head with his right hand and a smile on his face.

When the green changeling said that, Raven's empath powers picked up worry. Usually when he missed work out sessions he would be in the Infirmary. So there could be only one explanation as to why he was worried about something: he's not telling the whole truth. If it's one thing Raven hates, it's being lied to. "Why did you miss the work out session?" She asked, taking a couple of steps closer to her green friend. She decided to not alarm him just yet.

"Oh, I was, uh, I was...in the Infirmary," He said the first thing that came to his mind, his right hand returning to his side, back-stepping a couple of steps toward the door.

Yes, she was right, he was hiding something. Now her powers are picking up apprehension. "Why were you in the Infirmary?" She asked again, taking more steps closer to the green boy in front of her. She was maybe ten feet from where he was standing.

"Um, uh, I had, uh, I had...a terrible stomach ache." He said, putting his right hand onto his stomach for emphasis. The green shape-shifter saw what she was doing and continued to back-step, the empath continued to walk toward him, until he bumped into a smooth surface. With his right hand on his stomach, he placed his left onto the wall of the common room and slid it up and down. Turning his head to the left, he saw the common room door maybe four feet from where he was standing. It seems he drifted a little when he was walking backwards. He never really was good at that. Only one thing was going through his mind. _Crap._ He returned his head to looking straight ahead of him and saw the violet eyes of his half-demon friend standing no more then a foot and a half from him with her arms crossed over her chest. A small smirk could be seen, if you looked real close, on her face. She had him cornered, and she didn't even use her powers.

"You weren't in the Infirmary, were you, Beast Boy?" Now, she was going to get the truth from him.

The green haired boy couldn't think of anything that would get him out of this situation to save his life. Usually when an animal gets cornered, it finds a way to get out of it's predicament, but unfortunately for Beast Boy, every time he opened his mouth, nothing would come out.

"Well, I'm waiting Beast Boy." The smirk that was present was gone and replaced with a small scowl, her arms still crossed across her chest.

The green-skinned boy brought his vision to the floor and sighed, then mumbled something incoherently while shuffling his left foot much like that of a small child about to get a scolding.

"What was that?" She asked, her voice stoic, but had a small trace of anger laced in it.

"I said-" He began, but he was interrupted by Raven's communicator giving off a ringing sound. "You gonna get that?" He asked, thankful that something saved him. Most likely it's Robin. He was going to say thanks to the black headed Titans leader when he gets back. He mentally sighed, _Good thing Robin called. If Raven found out I went into her room...I don't even want to think about what she might do to me, but it was for a good cause. How else am I gonna get her a Christmas present. Maybe I can sneak away while she's talking to Rob._

The empathic half-demon brought her left hand down to her chain belt where the device was and grasped it into her hand and flipped the cover over to show the boy wonder from the chest up on the small LCD screen. All without taking her eyes off the accused changeling in front of her. She brought the communication device close to her face and at the same time lowering her eyesight, "Yes Robin." She said, the scowl gone for the time being.

"Oh good, Raven, you're up. I was just calling in to check up on Beast Boy." The boy wonder said through the com-link. "How is he?"

"He's fine," The petite young woman looked up from the device and didn't see anything in the spot where our favorite shape-shifter was standing at. "Now." She added, her face expressionless. "He might not be later."

Robin had a stumped look on his face, then went to one of understanding, "What did he do this time?" He asked exasperatedly. "Did he pull another one of his pranks?"

"No," The pale empath lowered her vision back to the communicator, "He lied to me."

"Oh, he did? What did he lie to you about?"

"I don't know," She brought her line of sight to the door, "But I plan to find out."

"Try not to hurt him to much."Robin said to his teammate, "He probably has a good reason for it."

The young woman flipped the lid closed on the device, disconnecting the com links. With her vision still on the door, she placed the communicator onto her chain belt. Then she proceeded to walk to the door. The door hissed open allowing the half-demon to exit the common room. After she stepped into the hallway, she started thinking of the places Beast Boy would most likely hide. The basement was out of the question. Even after these past two years, he's still scared to death of the basement. Turning right at a corner thirty or so feet from the common room, she thought of the roof. No, that would be the first place she would check. The vents were out of this also, since the heat was on, and he would be a fly, he would basicly be cooked alive in a matter of seconds.

It was then she brought her vision up from being parallel with the floor and spied the door to her room. _He knows better than to go into my room without my permission. Though, I wouldn't put it past him._ With that thought, she stopped in front of her door. The metal door opening to allow entrance into the darkly lit room. The young empath stepped in, being sure to spot anything that moved and was green. Bringing her eyesight to the left, she examined the bookcase that held her lore and modern fiction and non-fiction. _He could hide behind the books._ She raised her right hand, and summoning her power, she lifted every book on the shelves of the bookcase at the same time. Then moving closer to the old piece of furniture, she peered closer to each of the shelves, even the top ones by floating to them. But, she didn't find what she was looking for. So, back-stepping a few feet, she levitated the books into their proper places. With the books in place, the pale-skinned girl let her eyes scan the room to locate any possible hiding spot. Her eyes fell onto the bed. She saw the bed had more than half a foot of clearance from the bottom of the mattress and the floor. _He could hide there._ Summoning her power into her right hand, the bed was enveloped in a black aura, then with a flick of the wrist upward, the bed rose off of the floor, exposing the small quadrant of floor underneath. Walking closer to the aforementioned spot, she didn't see anything that would aid her in her quest. So, stepping back a few paces, she set the bed back down in its resting place. She let her eyes scan the room once again, they stopped upon her meditation mirror. _No, Beast Boy might be stupid sometimes, but he's not that stupid. Besides, if he was hiding in my mind, my emotions would of affected me._ With the mirror crossed off of her check list, she examined the room once more, letting her eyes roam over her right wall, with the pictures of the Titans.

The violet haired woman made her way to her picture riddled wall. Her eyes skimmed over the various pictures, until her eyes stopped on one picture in particular. Raising her right hand, she grabbed the small wood frame and took it off of the wall and brought it closer to her face. The picture held a good memory for her. It was a a close-up picture of Beast Boy and her, Beast Boy was the one holding the camera and took the picture. You could see behind them a finely detailed sand castle. It was when the Titans went on vacation last spring. Instead of going to Mexico, like Beast Boy had suggested, they returned to Japan for a real vacation, and for Robin and Starfire to have their anniversary there. On the third day of the trip, they decided to visit one of the numerous beaches lining the coastline of the small continent. Now that Raven recalls the memory, she didn't know how Starfire convinced her to wear a bikini, but she did. She wore a one-piece dark blue bikini that well-suited her figure, while Starfire wore a two-piece pink bikini that brought out the curves of her body. Robin, still in his mask, and Beast Boy each wore a pair of swimming trucks that matched the color scheme of their uniforms, but Beast Boy's was made out of the same material as his uniform, so he could morph while he was swimming, but Robin told him not to change into any creature that would threaten the prosperity of the beach, mainly sharks and the like. Cyborg didn't wear anything being half-robot, but he knew the sand and the water would cause him problems, so he calibrated his robot body to deal with it.

The picture that the petite woman held was taken maybe two hours after they arrived at the desired beach. Raven was sitting on a beach towel under a big umbrella with her knees brought to her chest with her arms around her legs with her hands loosely gripping her ankles and her chin on top of her knees. She has been sitting there the entire time since they arrived at their desired beach, maybe shifting every now and then to get into a more comfortable position. The pale girl watched her friends swim in the water and have splashing contests and dunking each other without warning. They were in the middle of a splash-off when Beast Boy saw her just sitting there not having fun. She saw him say something to the others and they nodded at him, then they continued where they left off at, while the changeling disappeared from sight under the surface of the water. The pale half-demon knew what he was doing. He was sacrificing his fun just so she wouldn't have to be alone. He always does that. She would've brought a book if she wasn't afraid of getting sand in it.

Raven observed the water's surface and saw Beast Boy emerge and start walking to her position. When he got to her, he sat down on her left side on the beach towel, instead of in the sand, meaning he wasn't going anywhere else. "Hey Rae, watcha doin' sitting here for?"

Raising her head off of her knees and straightening her back some, she turned it to her left, "Because I chose to be." She said with a straight face, "Why did you come over here?"

Her friend gave a chuckle and a grin, "Because I chose to. But, seriously, this is supposed to be a vacation, and you're not doing anything to relax yourself."

"I was relaxed back at the hotel." She countered.

"Rae, reading for two days straight is not a way to loosen up. That's routine for you. Try something new while we're here."

"What do you propose then Beast Boy?"

The green shape-shifter looked around where they were sitting at. He saw people building sand castles and others having their torso area buried in sand then being carved into different shapes. "How about burying me in the sand?"

"Don't tempt me Beast Boy." She said with a tiny small on her lips.

The green boy gave a laugh, "O.K., O.K., how about building sand castles?" He asked with hope in his eyes. "I'll be the one to get the water." He bribed.

The violet-eyed empath thought about it. It would be better than reading a book she already read five times, and the fact that he said he would get the water necessary to make the sand stick together, "Sure." And with that said, Beast Boy went to their things and found a couple of buckets and shovels. He handed one of each to young woman and brought his with him to the water. Dunking his bucket into the salt water, he pulled it up, the water filling the bucket to the brim and carried it back to the half-demon under the umbrella.

Approximately two hours later, they had their sand castle built. It wasn't a big one to say the least nor was it created from professionals who enter sand castle contests, but it was still beautiful to look at. After they built it, Beast Boy suggested taking a picture of it using the castle as a background for the picture and she agreed to it. Though, she didn't think that he would leave out most of the castle. She didn't get the photos until they were about to leave Japan four days later.

The small wood picture frame still in her hands, she let that memory flow through her mind and, just like in the picture, she had a tiny small on her face. It was then that another memory lapsed through her mind, even though they were gone for a whole week, crime in the city didn't rise. She remembers watching the ten o'clock news and them reporting of someone stopping criminals during the night the whole time the Titans were gone. They came to call him the "Nightwatcher". Pictures of this person, from amateur photographers, showed the figure wearing a muscle shirt that was unbuttoned with denim shorts that came to the knee with a sword hanging off of his back along with a travelers bag. Then as if subconsciously, her mind replayed the current events that happened at the firefight near the school district. It was then her eyes widened at the sudden conclusion, that was the "Nightwatcher". She lowered her vision back down to the picture in her right hand, her thumb sliding up and down on the glass with the changeling's head underneath her thumb, "It seems I found out your hunch." She said replacing the picture to its rightful spot on the wall.

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Well, that's the end of that chapter. If it sucked, I'm sorry. If it didn't, yay for me. Now that you're done reading, review because it will make me happy ^_^.

I've decided to keep this rated T.

Oh and just to tell y'all, I'm fixing to be out of school and be free until May(college starts). So you know what that means: More free time to write and reviewing helps the cause. Well, now that I've said my piece, Take care. Thanks for reading.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey DTF here with, OMG!, another chapter. Sorry for the long wait, this and shit been happening. I'm sure ya don't want to read the reasons on top so I'll put them on the bottom.  
Remember: change the background to black. Easier on the eyes. And Enjoy!

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_Chapter Four_

Upon returning the small picture frame back to the wall, she turned on her heel, her face having a determined look etched on it, toward the metal sliding door. Her eyes, whether subconsciously or consciously, drifted over to her dresser with her meditation mirror and her still untouched cloak. She hesitated for a second relatively in the middle of her room, before continuing on her path toward the door. She wasn't about go back on her word, even if it she did just say it in her head. She was going to surprise Beast Boy. Though, it's fairly difficult to surprise someone that's naive and not very perceptive outside of battle.

Hearing the hiss of the door opening brought Raven out of her musings and made her remember what her reason was in the first place. To find out why the green boy lied to her about missing last week's workout session. Setting her mind to think of more hiding spots, the petite pale-skinned girl came up on the door that led to the Titans' gym. As she was passing by the metal door, she heard sounds emanating from the other side. Momentarily forgetting about the possible hiding spots, she stood near the door and listened intently. The sounds were of those when someone was hitting something and the occasional grunt came with it. The young empath stood just outside the metal door with a perplexed look on her face. _He's actually in there._ Deciding to enter the room and get some answers, she approached the door, letting it open, and walked into the in-door training facility. _I hope he remembers this is the only door out._ Upon entering, she saw the green-skinned teenager performing quick and powerful jabs along with kicks equaling that of his straight punches. The shape-shifter paying her no attention.

Casting her eyes away from the shirtless Beast Boy, she observed what he was doing. He was bombarding the only punching bag in the whole gymnasium. As she was watching, she came to see that he had the top and bottom of the exercising equipment chained down. The only time he did that was when he wanted to increase his strength and work on the precision of his hand to hand skills...or when Robin told him to. _Well, he did say he would be in the gym. He usually does what he says he'll do._ With that thought, she decided to not bother him until he was done. Shifting her eyes from the activity in front of her, she spotted a bench on the right wall with a folded white towel resting on the left side. She made her way to the piece of furniture and sat down next to the towel.

It was at that time the changeling was in the middle of performing a roundhouse kick, until his eyes caught sight of the violet-eyed empath sitting on one of the numerous benches throughout the training facility with her eyes closed and her arms and legs crossed. Upon seeing her, his body tensed, and in-turn, made him lose his balance, which made him fall unceremoniously on his backside. Though he did use his arms and hands to soften the landing.

Even though the half-demon didn't hear the commotion and her eyes were shut, her empathy powers told her otherwise. Instead of receiving waves of confidence, like when she entered the gym, she started feeling pulses of worry with a slight hint of fear. Opening her eyes, she came to see her green friend sitting on the floor with his vision not looking at her. Uncrossing her arms and legs, she gracefully rose up from her resting place, "Did I scare you?" She asked, her voice monotoned, walking to the grounded changeling.

The young shape-shifter jerked his head up from where he was looking, his line of sight finding Raven's face. He noticed that her face didn't have the angry look from earlier, so he decided that she wasn't mad anymore, but he was still skeptical. "Uh, yeah...just a little." He said with a sheepish smile.

After a couple of more steps, the pale-skinned girl stood in front of the teenage boy. Even though he didn't say it, she could still feel worry emit from his being. He was still distressed about her being upset with him. Squatting down to his eye level, "Relax Beast Boy. I'm not mad anymore." She said.

"You're not?"

She shook her head, "No."

The green boy sighed bringing his vision to the floor, "Oh, good." Raising his eye sight back to the pale woman's face, "I thought you were gonna do something to me." He said with a grin. "So, what made you calm down?"

"To be precise," She started, standing back to her full five foot five inch height, "A pleasant memory." She finished, holding out a hand to help him up. Grabbing her hand, he got back up on his feet, then he proceeded to dust himself off. "Though," She crossed her arms over her chest, "You do understand why I was mad at you?"

Beast Boy's face took a dejected expression, "Yeah," Then his face brightened up, "But it's for a surprise that I'm sure you'll like."

"Beast Boy," The violet-eyed woman said exasperatedly, placing her right hand on her forehead while keeping her left arm across her chest. "You know I hate surprises."

"Don't worry," The green-skinned boy said waving his hand slightly, "This won't be like a Starfire's-got-a-new-dish kind of thing. You'll enjoy it." He said with a grin.

"That doesn't make sound any better." She said lowering her right arm back across her chest. "Could you tell me when to expect this surprise." Again, not a question.

The changeling's face took one of thought, his fingers cupping his chin, _Judging that I went into her room, and that I can still walk... _"Okay, fair enough. Expect it on Christmas." He said dropping his hand to his side and letting a grin take over his face once again. The green shape-shifter saw the young woman close her eyes. And to add to this, he noticed a light blush on her face. At first, it confused the green boy as to why she would be embarrassed. Then, it somehow clicked: she still hasn't bought any gifts yet. Putting his hands on his hips, he leaned down slightly to match her height, "Oh Rae-ven." He said, just inches away from her face, in a sing-song voice.

"What," The young half-demon asked opening her eyes, the small blush still present, and not missing the playfulness in his tone.

Beast Boy's grin couldn't possibly get any bigger, "You haven't bought any presents yet, have you?" The pale-skinned seventeen-year-old kept silent and found the wall to be quite interesting. The small blush increasing in size. "I knew it!" He shouted, standing to his full height and pointing an accusing finger at the young woman, and started to laugh.

The said young woman brought her vision away from the wall to the green shape-shifter, "If you must know, no, I haven't bought any gifts yet." She said bringing her vision back to the wall, her arms still crossed, "And stop laughing, I don't see what's so funny."

The green changeling's laughter died down after a few seconds, "I was laughing because I was right and you'd be the last person I would think who would forget about buying presents." He said looking at her face and seeing the blush still there. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about. Some people don't even buy gifts 'til the day before Christmas." It was then that an idea popped into Beast Boy's head, "Hey, I know. How about we go do some Christmas shopping during our day patrol?"

The violet-eyed woman contemplated this. _I suppose that would be acceptable. _Returning her eyesight from the wall to the young man in front of her, "Fine." She said with a tiny smile.

Giving a grin of his own, he made his way over to the bench with the white towel folded neatly on the left side. "Great." Then a sudden thought occurred to him: what is today? "Hey Rae, what is today anyway?" He asked picking up the white piece of material.

"Today would be a Saturday." She answered. _But...if today is Saturday, then that means...I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. Since today's Saturday, there's no school._ _And to add to this, it's Christmas break for the schools._ This realization made her turn and look at the green boy drying what sweat he had accumulated during his solo training. _He must of known that...and yet, he still would've went to the gang shootout this morning even though there wasn't any children at the school._

The violet-eyed beauty was brought out of her revery by our favorite changeling. "Hey Rae." With her attention brought from her mind, everything around her came back into focus. "Yes Beast Boy? What is it?"

Beast Boy, having been done wiping himself, had the middle of the towel hanging around his neck with his hands lightly gripping the ends. "You think we'll get to meet the new hero from this morning? I can't wait to meet him. It's gonna awesome." He said with a grin.

The pale-skinned empath saw his enthusiasm and couldn't help but smile back at him, "I'm sure we will." Then her mind remembered his "hunch". "Oh, and by the way, you can't call it a hunch when you have facts behind it." Her smile turned somewhat into a smirk as she kept her vision on the green shape-shifter, then turned toward the only door to the training facility.

Beast Boy watched the once friendless empath exit the gym with his ever present grin on his face and chuckled. "She remembered." He said. Though by that time she was already out the door a few feet away, so she didn't hear him. Then, as if it just smacked him, his mind noticed something. "Hey! She wasn't wearing her cloak!" He more or less shouted.

The aforementioned empath was just about to round a corner when she heard the green-skinned boy's outburst. She turned around and faced the metal door with a surprised look etched onto her face. Then her face held one of happiness. She didn't know why, but...she was pleased...delighted...elated... _I really need to talk to my emotions._ Even though she thought that, she couldn't erase the tiny smile that was on her lips. The pale-skinned young woman turned back around and continued on her trek toward the common room. Walking down the hallway, she brought up her right hand nearly parallel with the floor and lowered her vision to it. _I need to speak with them not just about why I'm happy, but also about my powers. I didn't need to meditate this morning. _She subconsciously turned a corner. She looked up from her hand while letting her arm go limp. _I can't go to Nevermore now._ Reaching for her belt, she grabbed her communicator and flipped it open and focused onto the digital clock. _It's almost eight. It will take more than an hour to talk to them._ Flipping the device closed, she attached it back to her chain belt just as the door came into view. The seventeen-year-old empath crossed into the common room. She made her way over to the semi-circle couch and sat on near the left side. Besides her power problem, what was she going to do for the next hour. Beast Boy was in the gym, so what was she going to do? She let her eyes travel the room until they landed on her book she set the night before. _I can read._ Leaning forward, she grabbed her reading material, but just as she did, the common room door opened. She brought her vision away from the book to the door to see Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg. With Robin and Starfire still wearing the winter cloths they received from the police and they looked quite tired with the metal man still having the same expression on his face.

The pale empath looked at them, "Welcome back," She ran her eyes over her friends, who were removing the outer most layers of clothing to compensate for the heat inside the Tower, while opening her book to the desired place, "Early, I might add."

"Yeah, that would be 'cause of me." The tin man responded with somewhat of a grin taking a seat on the other side of the semi-circle couch, leaving Robin and Starfire to shed the unwanted articles of clothing near the door. _Mmm, wonder why she ain't wearing her cloak._

After a second of silence Raven spoke again, "So, how did the patrol go?" It was then her empathy powers picked up anger and worry, mainly from Robin.

The boy wonder, now wearing his tank top muscle shirt and his workout shorts and still having his athletic shoes, dumped the borrowed cloths off to the side of the door and proceeded to the middle of the couch with the Tamaranean Princess, now wearing her pink long-sleeve T-shirt with her semi-fitted sweatpants, but she wasn't wearing her sandals, now bare-footed, having to change her footwear into something warmer, in tow.

Robin crossed his arms after taking a seat near the middle of couch, "To sum it up, Terrible." Cyborg, leaning forward and putting his elbows on the top of his legs with his hands together to support his head, spoke up, "Well, that's one way of puttin' it." Starfire, after taking a seat in between Raven and Robin, leaned onto Robin's left side and layed her head onto his shoulder and closing her eyes while gently prying his left arm free with her right and interlocking their fingers and laying her legs across Robin's lap without her usual cheerful expression apparent on her face.

The pale empath raised an eyebrow, "Oh," She lowered her book from her face to her lap, "Then what went wrong?"

The leader of the Titans was about to explain when they heard the sound of soft snoring. The three Titans that were awake brought their attention to the slumbering princess in the boy wonder's lap. Robin's face took on a small smile upon looking at Starfire's face.

Cyborg had a slight grin apparent on his, "You two go on to bed. I'll explain everything to Raven." He said leaning back against the back rest and bringing up his right forearm, "I got ten minutes 'fore I have to recharge."

Robin nodded, then gently pried loose his left hand and placed it on Starfire's back and placed his right under her knees and proceeded to stand while carrying her bridal style. "Yeah, but one of you two explain it to Beast Boy." He then proceeded to walk toward the common room door, but stopped half-way to it and glanced over his shoulder, "And Raven, when you and Beast Boy leave, be careful. We don't know if the gangs around the city are planning something or not." When he glanced over his shoulder, he noticed something, "Hey, where's your cloak?"

The aforementioned empath turned her face away from the Titans leader, "It was warm in the Tower. So I left it in my room." She said, a blush becoming evident. She couldn't tell them the real reason now could she?

Though Robin couldn't see it, Cyborg saw it. _Ohh, that's why._ He thought with a cheesy grin on his face. _Raven just lied._

That answer was enough for the boy wonder as he made his leave through the common room door.

Raven turned her attention to her half-robot friend when Robin exited the room, "What happened?" She asked, her blush fading.

Cyborg, letting his grin subside, brought his vision to the half-demon in front of him, "That's just it. Nothing happened." The pale-skinned empath rose an eyebrow. "Yep, it's as crazy as it sounds." He said raising his shoulders as if saying he didn't know.

Raven, though her face didn't show it, was confused on the matter, "What do you mean nothing happened?"

Cyborg cupped his chin in thought, "Well, before, like any other night patrol, we would come across any criminal of any kind," He placed his hand on the armrest, "I mean, we would round a corner and there'd be one, but, we barely even came across a pickpocket last night." The violet-eyed young woman gave the robotic man a look. "Now don't get me wrong, I like a peaceful city just like any other person, but it doesn't feel right, y'know." He sat there in thought for a few seconds, "It's like someone beats us to every bust."

Raven processed every word that left Cyborg's mouth, especially the last few, "Mmm, you don't say." She said closing her book and laying it on the table, _so much for reading..._, then proceeded to the computer terminal sitting just below where the huge T.V. is located, and took a seat there. "How much longer can you go before you need to recharge?"

The tin man rose one of his forearms so he could see the built-in screen, "Let's see, 'bout seven more minutes. Why?" He asked looking back over to the half-demon pushing a few buttons.

Without taking her eyes off of the tiny screen that was in front of her, "I believe I know who that 'someone' is." Pressing one final button, the T.V. that served as a window turned on and showed the footage from a security camera during the gang and police shootout this morning, then she pressed another that made the footage pause onto the figure that just showed up with his right hand on the hilt of his sword.

The metal man rose from his seat and walked over to stand behind the monotoned girl while trying to figure out who this person was. He ran a mental check on all the Titans and Honorary Titans, but none of them matched. "Raven, who's that?"

"That's what I want to know." She answered back.

Now that Raven had the video footage paused, the two titans could get a better look at their new possible friend. From what they could tell the figure was near six foot in height and from the way his unbuttoned muscle shirt was, you could plainly see a body that had a medium build that would make girls do double takes to see if what they were seeing was actually there. And upon closer inspection, one could see numerous scars on his arms and upper body and, with him wearing shorts, one could also see his well-toned calves.

Cyborg, after taking several seconds to analyze the footage, spoke up, "Real ladies man, huh." He said with chuckle and lowering his vision to the half-demon. Raven looked up to the tin man and raised an eyebrow. "Right...so, you have any idea who he is?"

The pale-skinned empath closed her eyes to think, "Well, the media has been calling someone very close to his stature the 'Nightwatcher'."

"Wait, 'Nightwatcher'. You mean the dude that helped us when we went on vacation?"

"Yes," She said bringing her vision to the giant wide screen television, "That would be the one. Millions of people have said that they have taken pictures of the 'Nightwatcher', but they were fake. Then some anonymous donor got him on video saving people from a burning building that was being broadcasted live. So people knew that it wasn't doctored."

"Mmm, if that video's in our memory bank, I can pull it up and pause it on his face and do a facial recognition to see if he's the real deal." He said searching through their databank. "How's that sound?"

"How long would it take? I know you'll need to recharge soon."

"No worries, it'll take maybe a minute." He said coming across a folder that met the requirements, "Found it. Now to search the video." After a few seconds he found what he needed. "Alright, running facial recognition." And, close to what Cyborg had said, a minute went by, "That's him alright. Though what gets me is that in the video, he has burn wounds that wouldn't go away anytime soon and in the camera footage, he has none, apart from his scars."

"Do you think he received those scars from the fire?"

"No, from the amateur video, he also has those scars. He must of got them from an earlier time." He said bringing up an arm to see the screen on it. "Well, that's 'bout all I can do for now. I'd best be gettin' on to bed." Turning on his heel, he started toward the door.

"Okay, Thanks for your help."

"Don't mention it. Oh, don't forget to tell BB 'bout what I told you and stay on your toes when you go out. We don't know what the gangs are planning." He was just about to exit through the door when he stopped and looked back to the young woman, "Oh, and one more thing, I know you told a little white lie to Robin about your cloak."

Raven, at hearing this, turned red and looked back at the door, but it was too late. Cyborg already left.

A few seconds later, the green-skinned young man known as Beast Boy came through the common room door finally fully dressed in his uniform, a grin still present on his face, which made Raven wonder if Cyborg told him that she lied to the Titans leader. "Hey Raven," He then noticed her face, "Why's your face red?" Guess not.

"It's...still a little warm." She responded, her face still having the hint of red, turning the swivel chair back to the T.V. screen.

"Oh," He turned his head to the left and saw two piles of cloths laying on the floor, "Hey Rae, who's cloths are these?" He asked pointing to the pieces of clothing.

"Those would be Robin's and Starfire's cloths from their patrol." She answered.

"They're back," The green changeling said as a grin captured his face, "Where's Cy? I was wantin' to play a game with him before we go on patrol."

"He had to recharge, but Robin and Cyborg told me to explain what happened on their night patrol."

"Oh," Beast Boy said with some disappointment in his voice, not from being told something, but from hearing that Cyborg already went to bed, but that didn't last long, "So, what did they say?"

"They basicly said for us to be cautious when we go on patrol." She said turning back around in the swivel chair after her face returned to its rightful color.

"They did? Don't they say that every time?" He asked, scratching the back of his head.

"They do," Then a small smirk appeared on her lips, "But that's only directed to you."

"Oh c'mon, I'm always careful." The pale-skinned empath in front of him raised an eyebrow. "Okay, most of the time." She kept it raised. "Alright, alright, some of the time." He finally said, his face, somewhat, in a pout. "So, did they say anything else?"

"Yes, Cyborg said that while they were on patrol, they scarcely came across any kind of criminal including gang members. And we have reason to believe that the gangs are planning something, we just don't know when they will execute it." She finished, letting what she said sink into the shape-shifter's skull.

Beast Boy closed his eyes for a moment, while cupping his chin with his right hand. He then looked up at the screen with two still pictures of the lone swordsman from before, his face went from thoughtful to one of excitement, "Is that the new hero?" His face bearing its trademark grin, waltzing up beside the half-demon.

Raven rolled her eyes at how his mind worked. He can be told something that involved danger, and he'd think of something else entirely. "Yes, that's him. Cyborg checked the databank for anyone matching him, but didn't find anything." She said, deciding to turn back to the screen. "For all we know, he could be working for one of the gangs."

"He did, huh," Beast Boy focused on the still paused video footage of the building fire and decided to play it back. He reached down and pushed a button to what he guessed started the video over. The paused video that was half the screen overlapped the camera footage and started playing again.

The violet-eyed girl beside him watched his actions and decided to ask, "What are you doing?"

The green-skinned boy turned his vision down to her with his contagious grin still present, "Proving a point." He replied simply.

The video soon showed firefighters arriving at the scene, along with police keeping people back for their own safety and news crews. The firefighters soon jumped into action, attaching their hoses to nearby fire hydrants, and some trying to come up with a plan to get the trapped people out and keep everyone alive. Three of the ten firefighters started approaching the front door of the four story office building, when the entrance collapsed on itself. Screams could be heard along with gasps and shouts from the authorities for the pedestrians to get back, while firefighters with hoses dosed the adjacent buildings with water to stead the spread of the fire to them, just because it was cold out doesn't mean that will stop it from spreading. But with the front door gone, the only other way inside was on the other side of the building. They didn't have time to move to the opposite side of the burning structure, every second counts when saving someone from burning to death. The three that were closest to the entryway approached the collapsed door only to be puzzled on what to do next. One of the three tried chopping his way through, but the rubble was to thick to hack away with an ax. They looked at each as if saying 'Now what?'. Then someone seemingly appeared out of nowhere making what little snow that wasn't melted fly in the air before having gravity take hold with his back turned to them.

With his hands in his pockets, he looked at the collapsed doorway entry with the same face as he was helping the police with the firefight, then glanced behind him, his deep blue eyes showing concern, "Need a hand?" Was all he asked.

The three firefighters looked at each again, the middle one nodded his head, "Yes, can you clear the entrance?" His voice slightly muffled from his mask protecting his face.

The mysterious figure nodded in return and faced back in front of him. He took his right hand out of his pocket and placed it on the hilt of his sword, with a pull, the silver colored blade breathed the air once more and then slashing in a X formation faster than the eyes could see, the rubble split into quarter-sized pieces falling to the side. He then proceeded to sheath his sword and glanced behind him again, "See ya inside." With that he disappeared from view.

Beast Boy stopped the footage and looked down at the empath with an ever knowing grin plastered on his face.

Raven looked up at the grinning boy beside her, knowing full well what that grin meant. "Point taken, but I still don't trust him." She said, her voice stoic, with her arms and legs crossed.

The shape-shifter gave a chuckle, "Ya just have to get to know him. That's all." He then grabbed his communicator from his belt and flipped it open. "Well, it's a little past eight," He looked up from the device to the young woman, "Ya wanna go on patrol?"

The pale-skinned girl gave it some thought, "...fine, I'll meet you on the roof." She said as lifted herself off the swivel chair and toward the common room door back to her room to retrieve her cloak.

"Sure thing." the changeling replied, looking up at the big screen, then departing for the roof with a grin.

**Else Where...**

The lone figure that Beast Boy has come to call a friend was walking down the sidewalk with his sword and traveler's bag in tow, pedestrians passing him gave him a second glance as he went by because here it is around freezing and all this person was wearing was a muscle shirt, that was unbuttoned, and shorts, but he more or less paid them no aid. He cocked his head up to the sky, _Hmm, from the looks of the sun...it's past eight if I'm right. Maybe...I could visit them even though I ain't suppose to be there for another hour. _Images of two people entered his mind along with remnants of a third...though he pushed those memories of the third person away for the time being._ But, I'm sure they won't-_ But his thought processes were interrupted when he felt something bump into his chest, his hands reflexively grabbed the area right below the shoulders to stabilize who ever it was that run into him. He lowered his vision from the sky down in front of him and came face-to-face with a beautiful girl. She had long auburn colored hair that went down to her shoulder blades, and with eyes that matched. She was wearing a light blue coat that went down to her waist with a brown scarf, most likely her mother made her wear it, but decided on wearing jeans along with slim brown gloves and winter boots.

Her back was leaning onto him, but she had her head tilted back to see who or what had caught her. He gave a friendly grin, "Mornin'." He caught sight of another girl standing three feet away with her hand covering her mouth and slightly giggling at her friends expense. She was five foot ten inches and had shoulder length brown hair with hazel eyes and had on a pair of glasses that not only made her look smart but cute at the same time. She had on a coat that matched her hair in color and, like her friend, a scarf along with jeans, a pair of gloves and boots. "And mornin' to you too." The young woman that was standing waved while still trying to keep her giggling under control.

The girl that the swordsman caught jumped out of his light grip with her face slightly flustered, either from the cold or by being near him, and stood to her full five foot six inch height, "Oh, I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean t-to bump into you." She had a outspoken voice. It was clear that she wasn't one to get embarrassed all that easily.

"It's alright," He said with a small wave of his hand, still having that grin on his face, "Don't let it bother ya, it's partially my fault too. I need ta watch where I'm goin'." His line of sight then saw what made the girl in front of him trip, though why she was backwards when she hit him he doesn't know. A piece of the sidewalk had been broken, probably by mother nature, and made a half-inch ridge that spanned nearly two feet across the four foot wide sidewalk. The mysterious figure took off his traveler's bag and placed it on his right side while going down to one knee, his heart-shaped locket slightly dangled from his neck, and ran a hand over the ridge. The raised portion was nearest to him while the other portion was as flat as the day the workers poured the concrete. _Nuttin' a little elbow grease can't fix._ He thought, temporarily forgetting about the two young women he came into contact with.

The young women watched what he was doing, and since they were standing pretty close, they saw his scars that littered his torso and his arms, but they were more confused about his actions rather than his appearance, for now anyways, though their curiosity was starting to get the better of them.

The red-head spoke up after a second or two, her curiosity finally getting to her, "Um, aren't you cold?" Her question was powered by her curiosity and basic knowledge that if it's below freezing, you put on something that would keep you warm, but this person was wearing summer wear...in the middle of winter.

"No, not really." He responded, without taking his eyes off the sidewalk. "The cold doesn't really bother me all that much."

"Well, uh," She squatted down next to him, "Do you know why the cold doesn't affect you?" She asked, her friend mimicking her actions by moving to the swordsman's other side to get a better view of what he was doing and to hear his answer.

The other citizens that passed by gave the three teens odd looks but continued on to what they were doing.

He gave it some thought, "...ever since I was little, the cold weather didn't trouble me. So, your guess is as good as mine."

"I wouldn't know what to tell you...sorry." The brunette spoke, her voice soft. It was clear that she was the type that would get embarrassed all to easily.

He chuckled, "You have nothin' to be sorry about. I say if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Besides, even my parents couldn't explain it." He said with a shrug of his shoulders then placed his hand back on the ridge.

The red-head noticed his hand, "Hey, uh, can I ask you something else?"

"Shoot."

"Um, what...exactly are you doing?" She asked.

He gave a chuckle and turned his head to face her, "I'm about to fix this so no one else trips over it." He answered.

The red-head, along with her friend, had puzzled looks upon their faces. "You're going to fix this?" The swordsman nodded. "How are you going to do that?"

"Like this." He placed both his hands on the two foot long ridge and, without using a fraction of his true strength, applied enough downward force to counteract mother nature and make that part of city shake for a few seconds causing the people to stumble and grab onto something solid. "Oops." He looked around to see the citizens search about almost franticly trying to find the cause, then realizing that there is nothing there. "Hmm, may have over done it just a little bit." It was then he felt something holding onto his arms. He lowered his vision and saw the red-head and the brunette each holding onto one of his upper appendages. "Sorry 'bout that. Don't know my own strength sometimes."

The two girls opened their eyes and looked at each other and then at what they grabbed to keep from falling. As soon as their eyes saw what they seized, they immediately released him. Both looking away with reddish hues upon their faces. He chuckled at their actions.

He ran a hand over where the ridge used to be. "There, good as new." He said, grabbing his traveler's bag as he stood to his full height and placed the strap on his left shoulder letting the bag rest on his right hip and then placed his hands in his pockets. "For now anyways."

The two girls looked down at the repaired sidewalk then at each other, the red tints gone for the time being. The brunette was the first to speak, "H-how did you do that?" She asked, standing up and matching the mystery person in height.

The swordsman gave another chuckle, "Would you believe me if I said it's all in the wrist?"

"No, probably not." The red-head answered, standing back to her full height. "The only people I've seen to be able to do what you just did is the Titans. You're not one of them, are you?"

"'Fraid I ain't one of 'em."

"Then, who are you?" The brunette asked.

"I've been called many things. Some good...others...I'd rather not say, but most people know me as 'Nightwatcher'." He said as he stared into the morning sky. "It might be for the best if you just know me as that." He brought his head down once more, "It's been a pleasure meetin' you two." With that he started walking down the concreted path along side the road.

"Hey, wait!" The red-head shouted. The lone figure stopped six feet away and turned half-way around. "I just wanted to say...thanks...Nightwatcher for...catching me when I fell." Her cheeks a slight red, albeit not from the cold, along with a shy smile.

"Your welcome." He began to turn back around straight, but relaxed and faced the two young girls, "Can I ask y'all somethin'?" They nodded in return. "Where are y'all headed to so early in the mornin'?"

"We were...going to the mall. Our friends are there and there's an early morning sale." The brunette stated.

"I see..." The swordsman brought his traveler's bag in front of him and unzipped it and retrieved something out of it and then zipped it back up. He turned completely around and walked back to the two young women, and held out both of his hands. "Y'all each get one."

The red-head pointed to his right hand, while the brunette pointed to his left hand. "Alright, now each of you hold out a hand." They did. He placed his right hand over the red-head's and his left over the brunette's and opened them simultaneously. The young girls looked in disbelief at what was in each of their hands. A small wad of money that consisted of twenty dollar bills.

The brunette shot her eyes up from her hand to the lone swordsman, "What-why-"

"Consider this," He interrupted, "A early Christmas present from Nightwatcher." He finished, a smile on his face. "Don't worry, I didn't steal the money, my mother gave it to me." He watched them for a second then said, "Take care." He placed his hands in his pockets and turned on his heel and started walking again.

The two girls watched until he was fifteen feet away, then the red-head spoke up, "Th-thank you!" The swordsman's response was a small wave of his hand to signify that he heard her and leaving them to ponder what he had told them about himself and how he managed to repair the sidewalk and shake this part of the city before their eyes and with nothing but his hands no less. They would probably tell their friends, weather or not they believe them, he doesn't know.

Following the lone swordsman, he closed his eyes with his head bent slightly down, again not paying attention on where he's going, with a doleful expression as bad memories and past experiences started filling his mind from his so called childhood, though meeting those two girls brought some hope, and a smile to his face, in his never ending struggle. He was going to protect them and the rest of the citizens of this city from the dark realities that lurk right under their noses. These dark realities he has came into contact with ever since he was seven-years-old.

* * *

How many of y'all scrolled down to see the reasons? Well, to begin with, I had surgery back in May and I'm still recovering from it. And my family's having financial problems along with personal. By personal, I mean that my step-dad's really gettin on our nerves. And it's kinda hard to think on writing this when ya don't know where your next meal's coming from. Well...I think that's enough reasons.

If ya liked it: Review, if ya didn't: Review. Take care.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey DTF here with another chapter.

Oh yeah, I have a question at the end of the chapter for the readers to answer. Thanks.

Don't forget to turn the background to black. Enjoy!

_

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__Chapter Five_

"Hey Rae, did you feel that?" The shape-shifter known as Beast Boy asked looking around from atop a twenty-five story building. He felt the structure beneath his feet actually shake and heard the soft crunch of the frozen precipitation. The snow that accumulated over the edges fell down to the streets below.

"Yes. I did." The pale empath standing beside him was also slightly confused by this. _Did an earthquake occur?_ Earthquakes were not surprising considering where they lived.

Beast Boy had the same thought, "Do you think it was an earthquake?"

Raven was silent for a few seconds, then answered him, "...no."

"You don't think it was a earthquake." He said looking at her.

The young woman shook her head, "If it was an earthquake, there would have been another aftershock. But we just felt one."

"Yeah, you're right about that. So, it's nothing to worry about?" He asked, a grin on his face.

The half-demon turned her head to face him and saw that contagious grin and couldn't help but smile, "It's nothing to worry about."

"Alright, then it's time to go shopping. The mall's not that far from here. Maybe a hundred feet." He climbed onto the concrete barrier that kept people from falling off the tall structure. He lowered his vision to the street below and idea came to his mind. He turned his head to his friend and gave a competitive grin, "Race ya to the bottom!" With that, he jumped off the two-hundred and fifty foot tall building eagle spread leaving Raven up top.

"Beast Boy-!" She rushed to the edge, only to see and hear the green changeling laughing to his hearts content. _Impulsive idiot._ She sighed, wiping away some snow and then leaning over and placing an elbow on the concrete railing and her chin in her hand. She began to wonder what it would be like to see his face if she won. Even though she's seen his face countless times when Cyborg or Robin beat him at games. She didn't know what was making her think this way, but she wanted to experience that and know what it felt like.

So, she decided to humor him and straightening back up, she summoned her powers and phased through the roof and reappeared at ground level. A few seconds later, Beast Boy landed just six feet on his feet with a light thud, probably shifting from a bird, still having a grin set on his lips. The pale-skinned half-demon looked up at his face having a tiny smile set on hers, "Looks like I win."

The citizens minding their own business. They were more than used to the Titans popping out from nowhere and continued on with what they were doing.

The changeling scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, ya beat me, though you kinda cheated, but I'll let it slide." He put his hands on his hips, "Though, I did win something."

"How so?"

"You had fun, my dear Raven."

The empath thought about it, she did in fact have fun. Now that she thought about it, the only time or times that she remotely had any fun was when Beast Boy sacrificed his time to be with her.

"Maybe you should play some games with me and Cy. I would bet you anything that you would win."

The half-demon, though she heard him, started walking and closed the six foot gap between. She stopped on his left side, "We'll see." Was all she said before continuing on. Though something on the inside almost made her say yes, she ignored it...for now anyway.

Beast Boy followed her motion as she walked past him, then a very sizable grin emerged on his lips. _She didn't say no._ He thought as he ran up beside her. "So...you'll play with us?" He asked, matching her stride.

Raven more or less just moved her eyeballs to look in the general direction of the green changeling, "We'll see." It wasn't a definite yes nor a definite no, but it suited the eager young man beside her.

"Alright, if you say so. Though I'm pretty sure it's leaning more toward 'Yes' than 'No'." Beast Boy said as he started walking backwards just a little ahead of the pale-skinned woman with his hands behind his head.

"You know, if you keep walking like that, you're bound to hit someone." She pointed out.

"Oh c'mon, I'm part animal remember. I can sense when there's someone behind me." To emphasis his point, he started walking with his eyes closed for a few feet avoiding close calls with passing pedestrians, them giving him odd looks. Raven kept her line of sight straight ahead of her, glancing to her side at Beast Boy and to the streets, after all, they were on day patrol. "I betcha I can make it to the mall without running into anyone."

This perked the petite woman's interest, "Care to put a wager on it?" A sly smirk set on her lips.

"What didja have in mind?"

The violet-eyed girl thought for a minute, "...How's this? If you win, I'll play a game of your choosing." She turned her head to see what expression her friend had on his face. It couldn't be described as no other than pure excitement.

"Yes!" He yelled, nearly actually bumping into someone wearing a business suit.

She kept her eyes on the changeling's face, "But if I win, you'll answer any one of my questions to the best of your ability." _Like how your body temperature rose nine degrees when you only been inside for a short amount of time. And why you rush into danger head first._

Beast Boy's face did a one-eighty when he heard that. _Crap, is she still upset about when I lied to her? No, it can't be about that. She said she wasn't mad about it anymore._

"So, Beast Boy. Do we have a deal?"

"Uh," _It has to be something else._ "Yeah, deal." He said sticking out his hand, grinning. His prominent tooth making itself apparent.

Raven brought out hers and shook. They did all this while the green shape-shifter walked backwards with the pale-skinned empath tagging along.

Beast Boy, after taking back his hand, glanced behind him and didn't see anybody on his side of the sidewalk and the back entrance of the mall twenty-five feet away, "Well, Rae, get ready to play that new off road racing game me and Cy got." He said as he crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

The young woman searched her memory about any off road racing games, there has only been one that she knew of. "You mean the one Cyborg beat you at last night?"

Beast Boy chuckled, "Yeah, that one."

"Any helpful tips?" She asked, looking around for anything out of the ordinary. Though her face seemed stoic, she was smirking inwardly. She was just being a distraction and with her ability to sense people to a degree, she felt someone walking toward to where they were heading. This person didn't seem like the other citizens of the city however.

The back entrance was just ten feet away...

"Hmm, yeah," The green boy uncrossed his arms, his eyes still closed, and counted using his fingers, "It helps to brake before entering a turn, especially if it's a sharp turn." The entrance was five feet away. He glanced behind him again and saw the electronic doors of the ever expansive Jump City Mall, "Well Rae," He chuckled, turning around and facing the same direction the pale half-demon was, "Looks like I win this-"

As if on cue, Beast Boy collided with someone coming through the sliding door holding a plastic bag decorated in a Christmas theme, leaving the green shape-shifter on the snow covered sidewalk with the other person still standing. The aforementioned green man rubbed his head, "Ow, what did I hit? A wall."

The monotoned young woman was slightly surprised as well. _Of all the people to run into._

"Oh sorry 'bout that. I really need ta watch where I'm goin'. This makes the second time today."

Beast Boy saw the person set the Christmas bag onto the ground and drop down to one knee. His line of sight rose to the person's face. He saw scars littering the person's body and a sword on his back and a traveler's bag. "Dude!" He pointed at the swordsman with a grin, the swordsman in turn pointed at himself with a puzzled look. It then dawned on the green boy that he lost the bet. His head whipped to the stunned half-demon, "Aw, dude!" He yelled, laying down on the sidewalk with his hands concealing his face. "I was so close!"

The swordsman laughed at the young man's antics. "Close to what?" He was totally out of the loop.

The shape-shifter let his arms rest on the sidewalk, "To winning a bet."

"Oh," He rose back to his full height grabbing the plastic bag and lent out a helping hand, "From the look of your reaction, ya lost," He chuckled. "I won't ask what ya wagered. Must 'ave been one heck of a loss."

Beast Boy grabbed the new "hero's" hand and felt himself being hoisted up with relative ease. "Yeah, other than the bet, this is great." His face took on a grin. "I've been wantin' to meet you."

"You do?"

"Yeah, we saw what you did this morning on a security camera. How you saved those police officers and kept a member of the _JC Punks_ from gettin' killed."

"Oh you saw that. So that was the movement in the corner of my eye." He thought for a second, "...oh well. So, what brings you here?" He placed his free hand in his pocket.

"Me and Rae came to do some shoppin'." He leaned in closer to the swordsman's face and whispered, "She hasn't went Christmas shopping yet."

The swordsman nodded in understanding. "I see."

Beast Boy straightened back up, "So, that's basicly why we're here." Another idea suddenly went through his head, "Hey I know, why don't you come with us?"

That idea made Raven look at him, even though her face was stoic, she was surprised on the inside. Beast Boy hardly knew this person and yet here he is inviting him to their shopping trip. She watched the exchange between the two young men.

"Ya sure?" The figure asked, scratching his cheek.

It was like they were already friends before even meeting. Beast Boy did say that you just have to get to know him. Though they were alike in some ways. One of them was height, although the swordsman was a little bit taller than the green Titan.

"Yeah, I'm sure." The shape-shifter twisted his head around, "How 'bout you Rae?"

She would trust his judgement for now, "That's fine." Her voice monotoned, but a smile on her face as she neared the entrance, but stopped and turned to look at the green boy, "Oh, and Beast Boy, I'll take you up on the bet when we get back to the Tower." The shape-shifter nodded.

With that she continued on inside to the most visited store in the whole city. The reason for the back doors was that some of the Titans' fans would be crowded at the front, and the back entrance also served as a quick exit for people that wanted to go in and get out without the hassle of finding a spot to park.

"Well, you heard the lady, let's go." The green-skinned young man followed his friend and teammate inside.

"Yeah, Yeah, I'm comin'." He said, mimicking the actions of his new friends, chuckling along the way.

**Roughly thirty minutes later... **

The three teens exited the Wal-Mart of Jump City with the swordsman out in front of the other two by three feet, still carrying the lone plastic bag from before. The other two not carrying anything.

"Wasn't it lucky for us that the manager said whatever we wanted we didn't have to pay! And they said they would deliver it to the Tower!" The energetic shape-shifter exclaimed.

"Yes, that was lucky considering we didn't bring any money." The monotoned girl responded.

The scarred swordsman up ahead of the Titans couldn't help but overhear their conversation, "Y'know, I would've paid for it if y'all couldn't." He said as he glanced behind himself with a smile on his face.

"You would?" The green-skinned young man asked.

"'Course I would. I'd do anything for a friend if it was in my power." His voice held sincerity in it.

"Thanks for that. Oh, I've been wantin' to ask ya. What's your name?"

That question made the swordsman stop in his tracks. Also making the two Titans behind him stop. The scarred figure turned half-way around and turned his neck the rest of the way, his face having a somewhat serious expression, "You sure ya want to know? Knowin' my name might have...consequences. Heck, just by knowin' me is bad enough."

"Why would you say that?" The empath spoke up.

"You could say my name's cursed, along with me." He returned to facing down the sidewalk, his back facing them. "So, you want to know it?"

"Well, I don't see how knowing you is bad, and I like to know the names of my friends." That was Beast Boy's reasoning.

"I see...alright." He looked up at the clear morning sky, "Name's Lee." _It looks like I'll haveta protect y'all too._

"Lee? How's that a cursed name?"

"It has...very thick strings to go with it." Before either Titan could ask him what he meant, he asked a question, "Oh, before I forget, either of y'all have the time?" _It's best if ya don't ask anything else._

The two Titans looked at each other, then Beast Boy pulled out his communicator from a pocket and flipped it open, "It's eight forty-seven."

Lee sighed, wrapping the opening of the bag around the rest of it, then he unzipped his traveler's bag and placed the Christmas bag into it, then he zipped it back up, "I'm gonna be late."

The green-skinned boy's curiosity got the better of him, "Late for what?"

The young swordsman glanced behind himself, "I promised two very special people that I would visit them today." He said with a smile, "Y'all wanna come? I'm pretty sure they're tired of just seein' my face." He chuckled, his breath visible in the cold morning air.

"Sure, where are we goin'?" The changeling asked, walking up beside Lee, completely forgetting about his duties.

Though Raven reminded him, "Beast Boy, we have a patrol to do. We don't have time for this."

The green-skinned boy turned around to face the empath, "Oh yeah..." He said, rubbing the back of his head. "But, didn't Cy say that they hardly came across any criminals?"

"That would be my doin'." Lee spoke up glancing over his shoulder, catching the attention of the two Titans, his back still facing them.

"How did you manage that?" The monotoned voice of the half-demon asked.

"I'll tell ya 'bout it later." Lee turned his head to the right and spotted an alley between two four story buildings. "I gotta get goin'. Y'all comin'?" He waited for an answer.

Raven thought about this, _What Beast Boy says is true. If Robin and the others couldn't find any criminals then, chances are, we won't find any either._ Her vision fell upon the changeling's hopeful face and it helped in making her decision, "Alright then, we'll go."

Lee nodded, then walked into the nearby alleyway. "We need ta get to the roof." He glanced behind himself, "Go on ahead, I'll meet'cha up there."

The two Titans looked at each other, then proceeded to fly to the roof of one of the buildings. Beast Boy morphing into a bird and Raven just simply floating. As soon as they touched down, the swordsman's hands were touching the concrete barrier, and having enough momentum, did a front flip landing on his feet with his muscle shirt flaring out then went back to resting against his body, his knees bending to absorb the force, then straightening back up.

"Alright Lee, where are we goin'?" Beast Boy asked, ignoring the fact that the swordsman jumped thirty or so feet from ground level...

Though, Raven did not, "How did you manage to get up here?" When they were on the ground, she peaked in the direction Lee was looking, and didn't see any fire-escapes. "Not unless you jumped."

Lee turned his head toward the pale empath with a grin, "Yep."

"Dude, you _jumped_ up here?" Lee nodded. "How is that even possible?"

"It was actually pretty easy for me." He then started walking towards the other end of the roof, the snow crunching underneath his weight, "Anyway, do y'all know where the Long Family Diner is?" He asked, reaching the other side of the structure, then turned his body half-way around and then his neck the rest, letting his vision fall upon the two teenage superheroes.

The green-skinned shape-shifter cupped his chin in thought, "Mmm, yeah I know where it's at, but I've never actually set foot inside." He moved his line of sight onto the petite girl next to him, letting his hand rest by his side, "How 'bout you Rae?"

She looked at her green friend, "I know its location."

Lee sighed in relief, "That's good. I won't haveta explain then." He turned back toward the concrete barrier and chuckled, "I just hope y'all can keep up with me."

"Oh, is that a challenge?" The changeling jogged up beside the scarred swordsman, "It sure sounded like one to me." Another competitive grin present on his face.

"Maybe..." Lee said with what looked like the same grin on his face.

"How 'bout a friendly race?" Beast Boy asked with a cocked eyebrow.

Lee chuckled, "Sure, and tell ya what, I'll give ya a head start." He said, gesturing with his hand toward the city.

The green Titan hopped onto the barrier, "It's your loss!" With that, he jumped onto the building that was closest to the one they were standing on, and morphed into a creature that had speed and then morphed into another that could jump and, if need be, into one that could fly. He repeated this pattern until he was out of sight.

Raven walked to where the swordsman was at and having watched the whole thing play out, decided that they were too alike.

"He's always like that ain't he?" Lee lowered his vision to the petite woman beside him with a smile on his lips, his arms crossed over his chest.

Raven sighed, "Sadly, yes." She glanced up at the scarred teen, "You know, I could of just teleported us there."

Lee chuckled, "Where's the fun in that. Besides," He had a concerned expression on his face, "I'm pretty sure it takes energy to do that kind of thing. Ya never know when ya might need it for something else." He said, looking out over the city.

The pale-skinned empath was slightly surprised by the wisdom in his words, "I must admit...you're smarter than you look."

The swordsman gave a grin, "I'll take that as a compliment. Hmm, I believe that's enough of a head start." Lee said, uncrossing his arms, "Well, I'll see ya at the diner, Ms. Raven." With that, he vanished from sight, kicking up the accumulated snow on top of the four story structure, making the monotoned girl cover her eyes with her arms.

Raven uncovered her eyes when the stirred up snow settled again. A moment of silence passed, "...great, two Beast Boys." She then proceeded to teleport herself in front of the family diner and waited for her teammate and the mysterious swordsman, while keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.

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Alright, now I'm sure most of you have noticed that this chapter is fairly shorter than the rest, now here's my question:

Do y'all want shorter chapters with quicker updates, or Do y'all want longer chapters with slower updates? BTW, Thanks for readin'!


	6. Chapter 6

Hey, DTF here with a short chapter. Though, I don't know if you can call a 3000+ word chapter short...

Don't forget to turn the background to black. Now Enjoy!

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_Chapter 6_

The pale-skinned empath has been standing at the side of the front door of the family diner for the past three minutes when she felt a familiar presence suddenly from the roof and the snow that fell on her head just proved that someone was up there. She turned her vision upwards, making the frozen precipitation that was on her head fall to the side, and saw the lower half of a leg that was dangling off the edge of the one story structure. "It seems Beast Boy lost." The swordsman rose from his back to a sitting position and lowered his vision to the young beauty below, grinning. "Again, I might add." Her voice stoic, but a smile on her face from the anticipation of wanting to see the changeling's face when he arrives at their location.

Lee then propelled himself off the ledge and, in mid-air, twisted his body around so he was facing the diner and landed with a light thud in front of the pale empath, the locket bouncing off his chest before resting against it. "Just ain't his day, huh?" He said straightening up, giving a chuckle and putting his hands in his pockets. He then proceeded to stand next to her on her left side. The reason for that was the door to the diner was on her right. "So...when do ya think he'll get here?" He asked, fixing his line of sight on the half-demon.

Raven, having watched his actions, already had her eyes on him. "I don't know...it depends if he finds any criminals or not." She answered, returning her eyesight straight ahead of her. "Though, that's very unlikely, considering it was you who took care of them." She turned her eyes in Lee's general direction, "Which reminds me, how did you manage to catch enough criminals that we couldn't find any?"

Lee chuckled, "You'd be surprised how so little crime happens in this city." The swordsman started to watch passing citizens and smiled and waved at the young children holding hands with their respective mother and/or father when they looked toward him and the Titan beside him. "Even at night."

"How so? When we started our day and night patrols, we would find them by the dozens." She said, keeping an eye out for her green teammate. There was a possibility that he would appear from any direction. "And now, there are hardly any roaming the streets."

The swordsman crossed his arms and thought about it for a moment, "...I'd say reputation. Or some other outside influence." He gave another chuckle, "Though, if it were me, and it works in my favor, I wouldn't question it. I'd go along with it, and then I'd question it." His face then had a concerned look etched upon it, "But, the sudden decrease in the crime rate gives ya a unsettlin' feelin', don't it?" His eyes skimmed over the unsuspecting citizens. "Somethin's gonna happen."

The half-demon, having digested more of his surprising wisdom, decided to fill him in on what the Titan leader said, "Robin believes the gangs in the city are planning something. We just don't know when or where they'll execute it."

Lee turned his head and looked at the one story structure behind him and sighed, "I just hope I'm up to it like the last few times."

The violet-eyed girl's curiosity got to her, "Last few times?"

"Yeah, the first was a string of earthquakes maybe a year and a half ago. The adjacent buildings were collapsing either on themselves or on others. Namely this one." Lee pointed with his thumb to the diner. "Thankfully, though, the buildings on both sides of the diner caught each other and all I had to do was catch the falling debris and rescue the civilians."

_That sounds like when Slade was trying to bury the Tower...and almost succeeded._

"Then," Lee continued, "Not long after that the city got overrun by robots that used intimidatin' tactics to subdue the people." He chuckled, "'Til they came here that is."

_That was when Slade and...Terra, joined forces and took control of the city._ "What happened when they came here?" The pale-skinned young woman asked not just out of curiosity, but to also pass the time quicker, and, like Beast Boy said to do, get to know him.

"Hmm," The swordsman closed his eyes to help himself remember, "I was just about to the door when two of those robots crashed out of the windows with the two owners in their hands..."

**Flashback:**

Glass breaking and screams for help could be heard all throughout the city, but was ignored by Lee when he saw two of his most precious friends in the hands of two Sladebots. They landed with heavy thuds near the swordsman and saw him on the periphery of their vision. The Sladebots turned their heads toward the scarred boy and relaying information to one another, one of the robots grabbed the swordsman by the arm, but was unable to budge him.

It was then Lee heard motors revving and gears turning, and the cold metallic touch confirmed his suspicions: This wasn't human. Before the Sladebot could even register what happened, it lost responsiveness from the elbow down from the arm grabbing Lee.

The Sladebot brought its line of sight down to its severed limb to see sparks and oil, and when the robot returned its vision to the being in front, he wasn't there and to the robot's dismay, the hostage it had was gone. The Sladebot checked its companion and its hostage was gone as well. The two automatons scanned the area around them and three signals appeared behind them.

The mechanoids whipped around and located their targets. They seen their hostages on the ground holding onto each other with death grips and what looked like a traveler's bag beside them with the unknown protectively standing before them with his sword drawn and ready for action.

A few seconds passed before the swordsman charged ahead at inhuman speed toward the Sladebots. The robot with the severed arm charged forward, but was met with a quick demise as Lee slashed his sword vertically, cutting the bot in respective halves with them falling in opposite directions. Though, before the robot deactivated, it sent out a signal stating that a hostile was in the area and sent what it learned to its partner.

The companion of the inactive robot took a fighting stance having learned a little of the hostile's fighting style. It calibrated its sensors to that of sword-fighting and awaited what its opponent's next move was.

Lee gave his sword a slight swing to get rid of the debris that was on it and set his sights on the next one. He soon realized, after some thought, that the fighting style the Sladebot took was one that countered someone with sword-fighting abilities. He lowered his vision from the robot to his sword. He gave his blade one more slight swing again before sheathing it and shifted into a fighting stance only he was familiar with.

The Sladebot calibrated and altered its own stance since its opponent wasn't utilizing a bladed weapon. The automaton began making predictions about the outcome of this battle and concluded that in a one-on-one fight, it will surely be destroyed. The robot had no other choice but to stall for time until reinforcements arrived.

Lee was waiting for the bot to make a move, but it seemed it wasn't going to. So, the swordsman lunged forward again at inhuman speed, closing the gap between him and the A.I. The Sladebot could barely register the rapid side-to-side movement. The scarred young man stopped just in front of it with an open palm reared back, the mechanoid brought its arms over its chest area just in time to receive a very powerful blow that concaved parts of its forearms and chest and sent it flying over the asphalt.

The young teen then disappeared from view and reappeared behind the flying machine with a leg parallel with the ground. The Sladebot rammed into it with its lower back, making it arch and damaging any critical systems located in its back region. And to make matters worse for the mechanoid, as soon as it connected to the swordsman's leg, he slammed the robot on the hard road, making an adult sized crater and causing more damage to the mechanoid's systems.

By now the Sladebot's visual system was going between static and clear and the cooling system that kept it from overheating was offline. Not to mention what the external damage has done. The bot tried to get to its feet, but only to be kicked in the side by Lee, making it flip over on its back.

The swordsman knelt down next to the damaged mecha. He noticed that the movements of his opponent were becoming stiff, which meant it wasn't far from shutting down. Though, unbeknownst to him, the Sladebot took a picture of Lee's face when it was clear and sent it on all frequencies to its comrades along with what it learned from fighting him. They would know who its disposer was so they can take care of the problem. Before its movements ceased indefinitely, it received a transmission saying that reinforcements are maybe a minute from its location.

Lee rose from his spot, upon realizing that the robot was out of commission, and started to walk toward his friends. One of them was running to him while the other simply walked. The young child that was running finally reached him and jumped into his grasp and gave him the biggest bear hug she could muster with Lee returning it, but with less strength. "Y'all alright?"

The mother of the child answered back with a smile, holding his lone possession in her hand, "Yes, thanks to you."

The child broke the hug with a smile on her face, but it soon turned to fear when she peaked behind the scarred boy. Her mother had the same expression etched onto her face as well.

Lee saw their facial expressions and craned his neck to look behind himself. There he saw a whole platoon of fifty Sladebots. Acting quickly, he grabbed both the mother and child, phased from view and reappeared inside of their diner. "Stay here. I'll be right back." He didn't wait for a response and ran back out onto the empty street leaving them inside to watch things unfold.

He stopped relatively in the middle of the road and drew his sword. Each of the Sladebots went into the same stance as the one before, but it wouldn't help them any. Lee wasn't going to fight them in close combat.

He turned his sword sideways and, swinging in the direction the bladed edge was facing, swung horizontally with enough force to create a visible wind slash. The wind slash sailed across the road, the close proximity tearing the asphalt away from the ground in chunks, and sliced the mechanoids in the first three rows in half, ceasing them instantly before the air slash dissipated.

The last twenty more or less ignored their comrades because, after all, they were programmed that way.

Lee propped his sword onto his shoulder, "This is y'all's last chance. Leave now and stay alive or stay here and end up like ya friends there. Your choice." He didn't think reasoning would work since they were machines programmed by someone that doesn't know remorse or regret for their actions, but the robots seemed to respond to what he said. Even though all they did was turn around and head back the way they came was good enough for him. As long as his friends are out of danger, he's happy.

**Present:**

Having listened to his story, Raven was surprised that he was still alive after coming across so many Sladebots. It takes teamwork from the Titans to even dispose of maybe ten of them, excluding a very angry Robin, and this guy can take out thirty or more with a single slash from his sword. _I'm impressed._

"You oughta hear the time after that," Lee chuckled, "But that's a story for another time."

"Why not now?" The violet-haired girl was still curious by this "hero's" past.

"'Cause Beast Boy's here." Lee was getting ready to point at a spot on the sidewalk, "And...now." As soon as the word left his mouth, the changeling landed beside them on all fours panting.

"I beat 'em." He said tirelessly, his vision still looking at the semi-white concrete.

"Not quite."

The monotoned voice of the pale-skinned empath reached the shape-shifter's ears. Beast Boy rose his head tiredly to see non other than his new friend standing beside his teammate.

Lee gave a small wave when Beast Boy's eyes set upon him.

The changeling rose to his feet, but still hunched over to get his breath back, "How did you get here so fast?"

The scarred swordsman grinned and chuckled, "Same as you, I ran."

"Dude, that's fast." The green-haired boy said straightening up. "I betcha you would give Kid Flash a run for his money."

"'Fraid not. I can't exactly keep it up over a long period of time, or...I've been told not too." He stated, walking around Raven to the entrance of the diner. "Let's go on inside, I'm sure y'all are cold." Lee stopped in front of the door and grabbed the doorknob, "Hmm, I wonder..." He gave it a twist and the door opened slightly. Lee gave a sigh and muttered, "I keep telling 'em to lock this door 'fore business hours."

He opened it all the way giving access to the family owned diner. It was like any other, there were side tables along the wall with the front door and the right adjacent wall with bathrooms on the left wall adjacent from the entrance.

The opposite wall had a bar with a cash register on the end closest to the front door with stools for seats. The opposite wall also had a swinging door at the far left for the entrance to the back and a glassless window right above where the register was sitting along with coffee makers, espresso makers, a stove, and everything else needed to run a diner.

When Lee opened the front door all the way, a small bell rang signaling that somebody entered the small abode and it rang again when the door was closed. The small ring was answered with, "I'm sorry, we're not open yet." A kind feminine voice said from the back.

But was met with, "How many times have I told y'all to lock that door 'fore business hours even when y'all are here?"

"Lee?"

He chuckled, "The one and only."

At this time, little pats of footsteps could be heard from the back coming towards the front. Then the back door swung open to reveal a little girl maybe three feet in height that was maybe eight-years-old. "Uncle Lee?"

Beast Boy and Raven looked at each other with each a cocked eyebrow after what the little girl said.

"Hey Brittany." Lee gave a small wave.

"Uncle Lee!" Her hazel colored eyes seemed to brighten upon seeing him as she began running toward him, closing the small gap between them. Right before Brittany reached the young swordsman, he knelt down and opened his arms. She more or less jumped into him and gave him a hug, "You came!" She rubbed her cheek against his and giggled, "Your stubble tickles."

"'Course I came. I always keep my word." Lee gave a chuckle while returning the hug, "Though, it seems I forgot to shave this mornin'." He said, releasing her. "And how's the most beautiful girl in the world doin'?"

Brittany thought for a moment, "...oh, mommy's fine."

Lee gave a laugh, "Heh heh, then, how's the second most beautiful girl in the world doin'?"

"I'm doing good." She gave a smile.

"That's good to hear. Oh, Brittany, I got somethin' for ya." The swordsman unzipped his traveler's bag and retrieved the Christmas bag from earlier. He reached in and brought out a brand new coat. "I know that yer other one's 'bout had it, so I gotcha a new one."

The little girl took it into her hands and gazed at it with a smile. After a moment, she looked back at Lee and gave him another hug, "Thank you." The swordsman gave her an affectionate pat on her head.

It was then the visitors to the small diner heard more footsteps from the back and then the door the little girl emerged from swung open with a squeak and brought their attention to the back door to see a beautiful woman, maybe in her mid-thirties, standing in the doorway, "It really is you, Lee." The person's brown eyes spotted the two Titans behind him, "Oh, you brought some friends with you?" She had a soft, angelic voice to go with her looks.

Lee stood to his full height, "It's good to see you too Olivia." He gave a grin, "Yeah, I figured I'd change things up a little. I'm sure yer tired of seein' just my face."

Olivia smiled in return, "Oh, Lee, we'll never be tired of seeing you here. Though it is nice to have different company once in a while." It was then that, like any other mother, she noticed the blood stain on his shirt from this morning. "Oh, Brittany, would you mind going and washing the dishes for me? We need to be ready for a busy day."

"'Kay mom." She gave Lee one last hug before she went into the back, taking her coat with her.

Now that her daughter was gone, she could ask what was on his shirt. Even though her daughter wasn't new to blood, having seen it on Lee first hand, Olivia tries her best to hide it from her. Brittany was, after all, still a child.

The mother walked toward the young man and stopped in front of him. She was about as tall as him, but just a little shorter, "Lee, what's that on your shirt?"

The scarred boy looked down and saw the red substance, "Hmm, looks like blood." He then scratched the back of his head and chuckled, "Somethin' tells me I should've changed shirts..."

"Lee, did you do something reckless again?" She asked, her arms crossed.

"Maybe, maybe not." He shrugged his shoulders. "Depends on who's perspective."

"From mine, you done something reckless."

"I only got shot, no biggie." He chuckled, "You worry to much."

"Of course I worry. What if that shot been fatal? You and me are the only things Brittany has left." She countered.

Lee bent his head forward so that his eyes became shadowed, "You don't haveta tell me." He said rather softly. Images of gunshots and fire invaded his thoughts from that day when this family lost someone special to them. He clenched his fists in momentary anger and started to visibly shake.

Olivia noticed this, and uncrossing her arms, she gave Lee a soft hug with him standing there, "Just don't do something too reckless." She released him, "Okay?"

Lee sighed, "Yeah, yeah. I'll try," He gave a small smile, "But I won't guarantee nothin'. Besides, there's no such thing as a 'fatal shot' on me, remember?"

Olivia nodded, "Now, are you hungry?" Lee's stomach gave off a growl for confirmation, "Like clockwork." She looked towards the Titans that were now sitting at one of the side tables. "Do you two want anything?" The young mother asked, her voice still as soft and angelic as before, only to receive a couple of "No thank you's".

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I think that turned out pretty well. Oh and if I messed up on the past parts when Lee told his story, tell me so I can fix it. Also, I'm no english scholar, even though its the only language I speak, so expect mistakes every now and then, or...every time. I never claimed to be fluent in it. Thanks for readin' and have a nice day.


	7. Chapter 7

Hey DTF here with yet another 'short' chapter. Amazing isn't it? Enjoy!

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_Chapter 7_

"Are you two sure you don't want anything?" Olivia asked once again standing in front of a stove pouring oil onto the surface.

Beast Boy waved his hand still sitting at one of the side tables with Raven sitting on the other side, "I'm sure Ms..."

"Oh, just call me Olivia." She said, smearing the oil evenly across the stove surface and turning a knob to the right temperature.

Lee gave a snicker, "Why? 'Cause it makes ya feel _old_." He said from his stool seat by the bar.

The young mother turned her head toward the swordsman with a raised eyebrow, "You want something to eat?"

"Uh...I'm gonna go help Brittany with the dishes..." The scarred young man rose from his seat placing his traveler's bag onto the bar and headed toward the back door with his sword in hand.

Beast Boy and Raven watched each with their version of a grin on their faces from their seats.

"Just don't scrub so hard that the pattern disappears." Olivia chided.

"You got it." Lee said right before he passed through to the back.

The young mother's expression softened as she went back to what she was doing. "Oh, I forgot to ask what he wants."

Just then, Lee's head popped through the glassless window with his ever present grin, "I'll have the usual."

"Alright, one 'Lee special' coming up." She squatted and reached under the bar into a mini freezer and retrieved a slab of meat that would make Cyborg's mouth water and plopped it onto the stove top.

"Dude! Don't tell me you eat meat!" Beast Boy cried out at the sight of the ground chuck.

Lee brought his attention to the green shape-shifter with a grin, "Yep, sorry but, lettuce by itself can't keep this body of mine runnin'."

"Lee! When are you going to help me?" Brittany called out from the back, "I can't reach the cabinets!"

"I'm comin'." He was about to turn around when Olivia got his attention.

"Oh, Lee." She smiled as the steak sizzled on the stove top. "I have good news."

The swordsman gave a grin of his own, "Could it be that the steak is done?" He asked with a hopeful face.

The young mother chuckled, "No. It's not that." She said shaking her head. "I hired a waitress yesterday to work here." She flipped the Lee sized steak over on the other side to cook, "She should be here today to start working." Then a very noticeable smirk plastered itself on her face, "She was very pretty and looks to be around your age..."

Lee chuckled, "There's lots of pretty girls my age around here. I met two comin' over here." He held up two fingers, "Three," He held up one more, "If you count Ms. Raven over there."

Raven, having heard her name, brought her vision to the scarred young man and had a crimson hue on her face, though no one could see it since her hood was up. Lucky for her, huh?

Beast Boy didn't hear him because he had his head on the table mumbling "He eats meat..."

"But," Lee continued, "I'm kinda already involved with someone." He lightly thumped the locket making it swing side to side against his chest.

"That must be one lucky girl." Olivia smiled at him.

Lee turned completely around but didn't go yet, "Like I said before, depends on who's perspective." With that, he walked out of view to help the small girl in the back leaving the two Titans and the mother of one alone.

The young mother's smile faded some, but then came back full force, "From mine, she's really lucky." She said softly as she flipped the steak again.

Though, unbeknownst to the people inside the diner, trouble was coming in the form of five gang members not far away from the aforementioned diner with a mission in mind, each having a concealed weapon on them.

Raven brought her line of sight down to the table with her face returning to its original color. That was basically the first time anyone called her...pretty. Her eyesight then rose to the shape-shifter, though something inside of her wanted to hear it from...

The pale-skinned empath shook her head slightly. What was she thinking? She put a hand on her forehead and sighed. It was going to be a long day.

"Hey Rae, you alright? You look like you have a headache."

"I'm fine." She said, bringing her hand away from her forehead.

"If you're sure." He shrugged his shoulders. There was a few minutes of silence between the two, with the occasional outburst from Brittany asking 'Lee, what happened to the pattern?', until Beast Boy spoke up, "So, what do ya think of the new 'Hero'?" He asked, making the violet-eyed girl look at him.

"He's...different to say the least." She said, her face stoic and her voice monotoned, relaxing against the back rest.

Olivia couldn't help but overhear their conversation and gave a small laugh, which caught the attention of the two Titans, "It's nice to see Lee making friends his own age." She gave the 'steak' another flip and smashed it a little.

"Are you and Brittany his only friends?" The green shape-shifter asked.

"I don't know." Olivia turned around in her spot to face the teenage superheroes. "Every time I bring it up, he would somehow change the subject to something else. He's done that ever since he saved me and Brittany."

That last comment sparked a question from Raven, "How did he save you two?"

The young mother had a small smile on her face, "He saved us from an armed mugger two years ago."

"And in return," The young mother and two teens brought their line of sight over to the back door to see the scarred swordsman with Brittany on his shoulders standing near the end of the bar. "Y'all saved me from losing myself." He said with a smile.

Beast Boy and Raven each had questionable looks on their faces. _What does he mean by that?_ They both thought.

"Oh, you two must be done with the dishes." Olivia asked.

Lee reached behind his head and picked up Brittany and set her on one of the stools, "Yep." He said, not missing the expressions on the Titans faces. "Is the steak done?"

"Almost. Just a little longer."

"Alright, then I'll be in the back checking the inventory." He said, receiving a nod from the proprietress, "Brittany, why don't you get the tables ready." He grinned down at the eight-year-old.

"Oh, I almost forgot." She hopped from the stool and jogged into the back area and came back with a rolling table with salt and pepper shakers, napkin dispensers, and condiments along with a washrag and a small bucket and started preparing the tables.

"Hey, Beast Boy, Ms. Raven," Lee called out, making the teen heroes look at him, "Y'all can join me if ya want. Y'all look mighty bored." He turned around and started walking to the back door, his grin never leaving, "Besides, y'all'll just be in the way if ya keep sittin' there." He said, just as he passed through the doorway.

The two Titans traded glances, then rose from their seats and made their way to the back door with Olivia watching from her spot in front of the stove. _Maybe he'll tell them._ She hoped, a small smile present on her face as she flipped the large piece of meat again.

After reaching the door, the green shape-shifter and pale empath ventured deeper into the diner. Upon passing through the doorway, they spotted Lee with a clipboard squatting near the right wall checking the contents on the shelves.

Then their eyes began to wander, taking in their surroundings, they noticed the right wall Lee was squatting near had shelves holding various sized canned goods along with bags of wheat, flour, cornmeal, etc. The wall with the swinging door had counter tops with assortment racks holding forks, spoons, knives, straws, and cups of all different sizes.

The left wall had two storage closets with the far wall holding a deep freezer and an oversized refrigerator along with a deep sink and wall cabinets with the newly washed plates in them and a clock. And last but not least, right square in the middle of the back room set a round table with four chairs around it and Brittany's new coat neatly folded near the edge.

"Have a seat." Their line of sight was brought to Lee, who had his head turned to look behind himself with a grin on his face.

The green changeling and pale half-demon made their way toward the table in the middle of the room, with Beast Boy pulling out a chair for Raven, the young girl thanking him, and then finding himself a seat.

"Y'all are probably wonderin' how I came to know those two, huh?" Lee asked after a few seconds of silence, while holding a bag in his hand then checking the clipboard, "Gonna need more of this..." He muttered.

Beast Boy started to scratch the back of his head, "Well, yeah. It's not everyday you get to meet the friends of a superhero."

The scarred swordsman stood to his full height, "Hmm, yer right 'bout that." He then turned around to face the two Titans, "But, I don't consider myself a hero."

"Then what do you consider yourself to be?" The empath asked.

"I'm just someone who's at the right place at the right time." He smiled at the half-demon. "Now, if y'all want, I can tell ya how I came to know Olivia and Brittany," _'Til a certain point anyway_ "But first, can I ask y'all a question?"

"Yeah dude?"

He closed his eyes and crossed his arms, the clipboard still in one hand, "Do y'all remember a rumor from, say," He opened one eye. "Two years ago?"

"A rumor?" Beast Boy cupped his chin, "I don't remember a rumor. How 'bout you Rae?"

The pale-skinned girl thought for a second, "...I don't recall ever hearing a rumor two years ago. Why, do you know it?"

Lee was about to answer when he heard a small bell ring. He turned his head in the direction the sound came from then at the clock. _Nine twenty, they usually don't open 'til nine thirty._

Olivia, having heard the bell ring, prompted to tell the visitors that they weren't open, when she heard her daughter speak up.

"M-mommy." The little girl's voice sounded distressed. Not going unheard by Lee's ears.

The young mother turned around from the almost finished 'steak' to see her child being held up from the collar of her shirt by what looked like a teenager with a blank and unemotional face. His eyes portrayed having seen too much bloodshed for one to see.

"Brittany! Please don't hurt her!" She screamed.

"Then, I'll make ya a deal." He spoke with a calm and collected voice. "Give us the money in the register and I'll let 'er go." The other four people behind him chuckled.

It was then the swinging door that led to the back room broke free from the top and middle hinge, leaving the bottom the only one holding the door upright against the wall.

"What the-!" One of four gang members said.

Then the young swordsman appeared beside the so-called leader of the group with the silver colored blade in his left hand holding his arm parallel to the floor with the sharp edge maybe half an inch from the thug's neck. The wind from Lee's sudden movement finally caught up to him, making a small gust blow inside the small diner.

The hoodlum lowered his eyes to see the blade deathly close to his neck. Yet he remained calm. "Then, _I'll_ make y'all a deal." Lee's voice grabbed the punk's attention, "Put her down and I'll let y'all walk outta here, or, the city will haveta send five ambulances. Which will it be?" The gangster saw in this person's eyes that he wasn't kidding and his cold voice just convinced him more.

Olivia could also tell that Lee meant business. His eyes that were normally a deep blue color were now an icy light blue and his usual warm voice was as cold as the snow outside. The only other time she seen him like this was when they first met, though his eyes were red at that point in time...

Brittany was thinking the same thing as her mother when she saw his eyes and heard his voice.

The silence that followed was broken by one of the gang members' laughter, "Ya obviously think real highly of yer self." The one that spoke was maybe six feet in height and had a heavy build much like that of Cyborg's wearing a trench coat. "Just because ya can point a sword at someone," He reached into his coat and pulled out a wooden sword that resembled Lee's katana. "We're s'posed to be scared?" He then proceeded to pull the handle like it was in a sheath of some sort and revealed that the actual sword was hidden in a wooden cover. He gave a cruel smile, "Anyone can point a sword at someone, but do you have the balls to actually cut 'em?" He shouted, slashing downward at Lee with enough force to sever bone and flesh in any normal person.

But, as you may have suspected, Lee wasn't _normal_...

Without taking his eyes off the gang member in front of him, he caught the blow with nothing but his right hand. The sword not even piercing the skin on his hand. When he caught it, he tightened his grip on the blade, his hand just inches from the tip.

Watching from the back room, Beast Boy and Raven stayed out of sight in hopes of keeping the situation from escalating.

"Raven, why do we have to stay back here? We need to help Lee out." Watching a friend in need wasn't really one of his strong suits.

"Because, Beast Boy, if the gang members find out we're here, they would do something desperate in their attempt to escape. We don't need that to happen; it's best to leave this to Lee." _I can barely make out the fear from four of them, as well as a mix of excitement and anticipation from the one with the hidden sword, because the anger from Lee is so overwhelming. And I can't help but feel that he's holding back..._

The green changeling nodded in understanding, "Yeah, you're right. I guess all we can do is hope for the best."

With that said, the pair continued to observe the mysterious teen to see how he was going to handle this.

"What the...hell?" One of three members that have been quiet up until now said, fear evident in his eyes, "How do you still have your hand?" He asked, not seeing so much as a trickle of blood running down this guy's hand.

The thug with the hidden blade gave another laugh, "It's just like what the boss said, expect the unexpected." He gave a short chuckle, "Though, I'm wonderin' how yer hand survived my attack without so much as a scratch."

"I'll tell ya then." Lee kept his eyes on the one holding Brittany, "You might be strong by human standards, but know this," He then shifted his cold gaze to the other gangster, "I ain't human." With a twist of his wrist, the scarred swordsman broke his adversary's sword almost cleanly in half making the hoodlum stumble back a couple of paces. Lee brought his arm back to his side, the piece of sword in his hand. Lee then returned his line of sight to the leader of the group. "Now, what's yer answer? Either one will end with Brittany back on the ground."

The leader of the group was silent for a few seconds, then gave his answer, "Very well." Lee brought his sword away from the thug's neck to his side. The thug in response set Brittany on the ground.

The small child ran behind one of Lee's legs, grabbing onto his shorts. The swordsman's eyes following her movement, then back to the gang members. "Since you kept yer end, I'll keep mine. Now get out," He brought his right hand up with the sword half, and crushed it. The pieces fell on the floor like rain. "And don't come back."

The leader put his hands in his pockets, and turned towards the door, "Lets go." Was all he said as the other four filed in behind him.

The battle hungry member gave a chuckle, "I was wantin' to see what other tricks he had..." He said putting his broke sword back into its wooden sheath. "Maybe next time."

A few seconds later, the gang members were gone and the tense atmosphere dispersed.

Lee closed his eyes and tossed his sword into his right hand so he could sheath it.

"Lee, are you alright?" Brittany asked, relocating herself in front of him.

The swordsman gave a chuckle, "I should be the one askin' you that." His voice was back to its normal tone. He squatted down to her height, "I'm fine though." His eyes were open, displaying the deep blue color once again.

The little girl smiled at him. Even during this traumatizing event, not a single tear was on her face. Brittany's eyes fell on Lee's hand and remembered what happened, "Let me see your hand."

A puzzled look came across Lee's face. He lowered his vision to his hands, "Which one?"

Olivia smiled at the two. Lee was back to normal or...as normal as he could get anyway. She watched as her daughter examined his hand to see if anything was wrong with it.

The scarred young man did the same as Olivia when his nose caught a scent, "Hey Olivia," The young mother looked toward him, "Food's burnin'." Lee laughed at her expression as she tried her best to save his meal. It wouldn't have mattered if it was burnt or not, he was still going to eat it.

The shape-shifter in the back room turned to his teammate with a grin, "I like this place." The young woman in turn smiled back.

With a change of scenery, we come to find the five man group on the sidewalk going to a rendezvous spot to relay some information and conduct a battle plan.

"What was the point of us goin' to that place?" The six foot figure asked his comrade.

The five foot ten inch leader kept his eyesight ahead of him, "We were on a reconnaissance mission."

"Recon mission, eh? Tch, did we learn anythin'?"

"Plenty. We know his weak point. Now we wait for nightfall."

"What fer?"

The leader turned his head to his battle hungry friend, "The boss wants to fight 'im."

* * *

Well, there you have it. Don't have much say so, if you like: Review. If you don't: Review. Anything is accepted. Have a nice day and thanks for reading.


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